The Crit #36: Tetsuo Mukai
Welcome to The Crit, Disegno’s fortnightly podcast that asks leading designers to look back on their careers and reflect on their past projects.
For those new to the show, each episode sees Disegno’s editor-in-chief Oli Stratford invites a guest to Kef Music Gallery to look back on their past projects. Our guest reveals what worked best; what failed; what pushed their career to new heights; what feedback most shaped their practice; and what they feel needs to be redesigned.
At the end of each episode, to complete their crit, they’ll be asked to give themselves a grade for their career to date: fail, pass, commendation or distinction.
It’s a design-school crit, delivered every fortnight! Subscribe to the show here, or sign up wherever you get your podcasts from.
Our thirty-sixth guest on The Crit is Tetsuo Mukai, accompanied by show host Oli Stratford.
Episode #36: Tetsuo Mukai
Tetsuo Mukai is the co-founder of London-based design studio Study O Portable, where he works with his partner, Bernadette Deddens, creating objects which interrogate our relationship with design.
From rubber erasers carved to look like granite construction elements to silk scarves designed to look like packaging materials, Study O Portable’s work interrogates cultural value, the transportation networks that sustain the global economy, artifice and fakery. The studio has worked with institutions such as the London College of Fashion, and has a curatorial wing called Workshop for Potential Design which has staged critically acclaimed exhibitions during London Design Festival.
The studio has had a long term relationship with the collectible design gallery Fumi, through which they sell Fuzz, a series of tables made from thin layers of Jesmonite.
During his crit, Mukai talked about studying fashion design, debating whether his work is classified as art or design, and his dream of creating a free art school.
Show Notes: Tetsuo Mukai
Best design: Quartz Mirror
Worst design: Crystal room dividers
Most successful design: Fuzz
Most impactful feedback: People asking whether his work is art or design
Dream design: A free art school
This episode of The Crit was recorded at KEF Music Gallery London.
The Crit’s graphics were created by Leonhard Rothmoser.
The Crit’s music was created by Yuri Suzuki and Team Suzuki.