Osamu Fukushima encountered the term “social design” around the same time his heart became conscious of the term “gratitude,” and decided to dedicate the remainder of his life to exploring the potential for making a social contribution through design.

Shortly after Fukushima adopted this approach, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck and he initiated a number of design-related efforts to support recovery. He says these “have provided an opportunity to rethink the essential role to be played by graphic design and enabled me to gradually understand the kind of design the society really needs.”

This exhibition introduces a number of social projects that Fukushima has put together to date, that exercise the power of design to generate donations for small-scale NPOs that punch above their weight in the quality of their activities. Focusing in particular for this exhibition is the newly launched project “GIFTHOPE,” and others such as the “Prayer Tree Project” that has been ongoing since 2011. The exhibition also presents Fukushima’s poster designs, produced over a twenty-five-year collaboration, for performances by the Yamanote Jijosha theatrical company.

The exhibition offers a chance to touch the design mentality of Osamu Fukushima, who faces the work of graphic design with sincerity as he continues to create things that are not ephemeral but rather serve as guideposts pointing the way to the future.

gggBooks 109 - Osamu Fukushima will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.