2010 Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Award | Takayuki Hori

Here is a look at some of the winners of the 2010 Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Award, which were unveiled late in 2010. Beginning in 2006 – and sponsored by Mitsubishi Chemical – the award show invites student designers to submit their senior thesis works to be judged by a group of industry professionals including artists, designers, professors and critics.

First up is Takayuki Hori, whose work Oritsunagumono (things folded and connected) was awarded 1st prize. Hori embeds the ancient craft of origami with an environmental theme by using the skeleton of a sea turtle, waterfowl and 6 other endangered animals printed on a translucent material.

The material is then folded into the shape of the animal. The stark and eerily poignant origami prints reminds us that, much like the way the craft has been passed down from generation to generation, these animals that have accompanied us for thousands of years now face extinction.

Takayuki Hori is a graduate student of the Kanazawa College of Art, completing his MFA studies in visual communication design.