Naoto Fukasawa

Naoto Fukasawa is a Japanese designer, born in Yamanashi Prefecture in 1956. He studied at Tama Art University in their Product Design department and graduated in 1980. The same year as his graduation, Fukasawa joined Seiko Epson, where he was responsible for advanced development design, and his career began. In 1989, he decided to move to America to ID Two (now IDEO San Francisco), but eventually returned to Japan in 1996.

After a long period working for other studios and lending his expertise, in 2003 Naoto Fukasawa went independent and founded his own company: Naoto Fukasawa Design. He determined that the impetus for design is found in people’s unconscious behaviour and named this “Without Thought”. This phrase has followed him throughout his career, and he has held workshops of the same name every year since 1999, sharing his knowledge.

The work of Naoto Fukasawa extends globally, collaborating with over 70 renowned international brands, and on top of this, he also provides consulting and design services for Japanese companies. Fukasawa has been accorded the title of Royal Designer for Industry (Royal Society of Arts), and in 2018, he was awarded the Isamu Noguchi Award.