by Carolina dos Santos Reis
Although he was born in Tokyo in 1979, Daijiro Mizuno acquired all his university education in the UK. He completed an MA in Fashion Design in womenswear at the Royal College of Art and a BA in Fashion Design at the University of East London after having started studies in architecture. Then, he proceeded to investigate the non-verbal dimensions of fashion through its cultural characteristics for his PhD thesis while working for Shelley Fox as a part-time design assistant.
He has been teaching in Japan since 2006 at Kyoto University of Art and Design and at the Seian University of Art and Design, and also acting as a director at Critical Design Lab, a part of Kyoto University. Furthermore, he exhibited at the Royal College of Art and at the Dojidai Gallery, Kyoto.
In order to explain his projects, I will mainly cite his own words, not simply because it was the only information we received, but also in an attempt to provide the most accurate description of his work.
His previous project was entitled paperbag! girls, where he researched “on young girls reusing ‘brand’ shopping bags not in the context of recycling but in the context of consumption and (re)production of image”.
Also, he is currently working on two projects. The first is a joint project with the STBY and is entitled “Belonging and Belongings, investigating the relationship between virtual / real identity through the objects people carry”. The second one is “Universal Fashion, exploring the critical view on fashion design in the context of universal design”. Moreover, he explores “issues such as functionality, aesthetics, semiotics and commerciality in the cross-disciplinary manner”.
Focusing on such immaterial considerations in his practice, Daijiro Mizuno demonstrates the deep potential of the discipline and its link to a very wide range of social and individual considerations.
Despite the lack of data available on him, it can be said that his career has been oriented in a mostly theoretical manner, and that he seems to link his research into his creative work. The trajectory of his path is clear evidence of how his interest and passion directed his career into research, but it doesn’t reveal much about his personal motivation. All in all, Daijiro Mizuno appears to be a rather enigmatic character, who will definitely have much to share - especially from an academic point of view - when he visits the Design Academy on Friday, 27 February, 2009. Personally, I have a lot of expectations and I am looking forward to discovering Daijiro Mizuno.
Links:
Daijiro Mizuno PhD
STBY
Shelley Fox
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