DSF Cultivation Award
New creations are born from the connection between design and science.
By praising and supporting the protagonists who have produced these fruits, we aim to lead the world toward a beautiful one.
Selection Results
THE DESIGN SCIENCE FOUNDATION
PRIZE for LEADING CHARACTER 2025
DSF CULTIVATION AWARD
Haruka Misawa
DSF CULTIVATION AWARD
Designer
Summary of Activities
Haruka Misawa was born in Gunma Prefecture in 1982. She graduated from the Department of Industrial, Interior and Craft Design at Musashino Art University in 2005. Then she worked at the design office nendo before joining the Hara Design Institute at the Nippon Design Center in 2009. In 2014, she established the Misawa Design Institute and initiated its activities. She employed an experimental approach to observe the underlying principles of objects and visualize the unknown possibilities inherent in them.
Her major works include “waterscape,” which reconstructed the underwater environment into a new landscape; “Paper Verb,” which explored the possibilities of paper as never before; “WHO ARE WE,” a mobile exhibition kit for the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo; the 25th Yusaku Kamekura Design Award Commemorative Exhibition “Just by”; the Exhibition “Little Haruomi and Mr.Hosono” held at Reifsnider House at the Rikkyo University Campus; and “Hyakuyozu – Unfolding Patterns of A Hundred Wonders,” the new symbol and packaging for the Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Store. She won the Mainichi Design Award in 2019.
From the Jury,
Haruka Misawa’s works evoke surprise and discovery that go beyond expectations. With a scientific perspective, she closely examines nature and materials, transforming her insights into form to offer new ways of seeing and thinking. Moving fluidly between science and design, she reveals the quiet beauty hidden in natural phenomena and materials, presenting them in expressions that are both poetic and intelligent. Through sincere engagement with materials and a process of observation and experimentation, her work seeks a universal value beyond trends. Such practice expands the field of design and gently, yet powerfully, reconnects the relationship between people and the Earth.
Above: When paper moves, / 2022 / AD＋D: Haruka Misawa, D: Maho Motoyama, Hiroyuki Tomiya,, Movie: Masaki Ogawa, Movie Editing: Norihiro Kuroda, Music: Heima (Noriyuki Sato, Makiko Sato), Mechanical Design: nomena (Shohei Takei, Kohei Ochinoki, Juri Fujii), Kageaki Nakaji, Paper Manufacturing: Awagami Factory, CL: Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design
Middle: Paper Verb / 2018 / AD＋D: Haruka Misawa, D: Maho Motoyama, Movie: Masayuki Hayashi, CL: Takeo Co., Ltd.
Below: HAPPAMARU / 2020 / D: Haruka Misawa, Photo : Keisuke Kitamura
ORIGINALMIND
DSF CULTIVATION AWARD
Summary of Activities
Based in Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, ORIGINALMIND develops and sells compact desktop manufacturing machines such as small CNC mills, injection-molding machines, and sheet-metal bending machines. In 2003, the company released the “mini CNC,” bringing tools that until then were available only to companies or research institutions into the hands of individuals. As performance improved, the product line was renamed “KitMill” and now supports creation across educational institutions, researchers, and independent creators.
ORIGINALMIND’s products embody a design philosophy that deliberately leaves room for the user to refine and finish, rather than presenting a fully finished, closed product. This reflects the company’s founding mission: “We provide the joy and dreams of manufacturing.”
Since its founding, Chairman and Founder Hajime Nakamura has held a deep respect for engineers’ spirit of challenge and creative passion, and continues to produce products that resonate with that respect.
From the Jury,
ORIGINALMIND is a rare and important presence that brings the science of design into the hands of individuals. Its CNC mills and “INARI” injection-molding machines are devices that turn “ideas” into “reality,” expanding the freedom of creation and making manufacturing accessible while remaining in harmony with environmental responsibility.
By building while learning, repairing while using, and producing only what is needed with respect for resources, users grow both technically and sensually. In giving people the joy of turning ideas into tangible form, while pointing the path toward a sustainable society, ORIGINALMIND restores “the science of creation” to the hands of individuals, offering a new ideal of manufacturing rooted in personal empowerment and responsibility.
Above: YouTube ORIGINALMIND / How to use “KitMill”
Below: YouTube ORIGINALMIND / How to use “INARI M06/M12”
https://www.originalmind.co.jp/
SELECTION COMMITTEE MEMBER
Naoto Fukasawa, Masato Sasaki, Kaoru Mende, Katsuhiko Kushi, Nobutaka Matsuo, Katsuyuki Toritani, and Yugo Nakamura.
→DSF CULTIVATION AWARD 2024 SELECTION RESULTS
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