Presentation Theme
The theme of our presentation this time was "Imaginative Design: Here’s What We’re Actually Thinking." While "imagination" refers to subjective ideas or beliefs without basis, it is often from such "unrealistic" thinking that new technologies and ideas are born. In the field of design as well, imagination plays an important role in seeking solutions and new perspectives. This time, with a touch of humor, we aimed to share our everyday and work-related "imaginings" in a presentation format and expand new ideas together with the participants. Designers Yamane and Okumura from CITIZEN were in charge of the presentation.
Asakusa Mokubatei
The venue for this presentation, Asakusa Mokubatei, is a vaudeville theater that retains the nostalgic atmosphere of the Showa era. It was a humor-filled venue that matched the theme of "imagination," and usually hosts performances by rakugo storytellers and comedians. The backstage area was exactly as seen on TV, a true dressing room. Since this is not a place one can usually enter, it was a valuable experience. The atmosphere was relaxed yet also carried a sense of traditional solemnity.
Presentation
Here is an overview of the presentation we actually gave. Since the venue was a vaudeville theater, we started the introduction in a manzai (comedy duo) style, standing on either side of a microphone stand. Other participating companies also incorporated elements of "oogiri" (improvised comedy) into their presentations, and the overall atmosphere was friendly and relaxed. In our presentation, under the theme of "What if CITIZEN created a public bath facility...?", we proposed a facility that fuses a watch shop with a public bath.
Imagination
We expanded our imagination from the question: "Is there something we can do about all the watches left in drawers with dead batteries?" We brainstormed from various angles, such as what would motivate people to visit a watch shop and become watch users again, and how to maintain that motivation. Many ideas emerged, but in the end, we proposed a facility that combines a watch shop and a public bath.
Why a public bath?
The reason we arrived at this idea is that we found similarities between the process of watch maintenance and the way people spend time at a public bath, and felt there was an interesting affinity there. Although it was a rather bold idea, since the theme was "imagination," we focused on novelty and appeal rather than feasibility or rationality. With the concept of "maintaining yourself along with your watch," we expanded our imagination to create a place of relaxation for the community and to address the recent decline in interest in watches. The idea is that people would visit this facility when their watch battery runs out, making it both a place to encounter new watches and a place for community relaxation.
Expanding the Imagination
This public bath facility, "CITIZEN no Yu," has an attached watch shop. Users can leave their watches at the reception and enjoy a bath or sauna while their watches are being maintained. The watch shop is divided into a sales area and a repair workshop, where visitors can watch skilled craftsmen carefully disassemble and assemble watches. After bathing or using the sauna, visitors can experience CITIZEN’s products and technology and spend a relaxing time there.
Deepening the Imagination
When creating a floor plan for the facility, ideas for user flow and services came up in succession. We not only designed the exterior and floor plan, but also thought about facility goods and created concept images. Making concrete images made the imagination clearer, and the process of further expanding ideas from there was very exciting. Freely expanding and deepening our imagination without being constrained by anything was a refreshing change from our usual work.
Reflections on Imagination
At this event, I was also fascinated by the "imagination" of people from other companies, making it a valuable and stimulating experience. I was once again reminded that imagination encourages free thinking beyond the bounds of reality and is a driving force for generating new ideas and perspectives. I want to continue to value this "imagination" and apply it to manufacturing in the future.