A chronological, critical history of design in Japan since the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Modern Japanese Design (forthcoming from Reaktion Books) charts the relationships between developments in domestic design industries (product, graphic, furniture, fashion and interior), changes in the material culture of everyday life in Japan and perceptions of ‘Japanese design’ overseas. The first English-language resource to comprehensively narrate and analyse the history of design in Japan from the nineteenth century to the present day, Modern Japanese Design provides a new perspective on the history of modern Japan and on the history of design in the modern world.

This research, which will result in a book-length monograph, explores the relationship between state- and corporate-sponsored materials research, furniture design and regional manufacturing in modern Japan, from the onset of imperial expansion in the 1890s to the Cold War. The project analyses the impact of geopolitics, strategies for economic development and human networks on attitudes and activities surrounding wood as a commodity and material, within a broader spectrum of attempts to modernise the design and manufacture of wooden furniture in Japan. Areas explored include state-sponsored materials research initiatives, woodworking and design education, the adoption of new technologies and standards under the American Occupation and post-war, modernist furniture manufacturing in the context of economic reconstruction and growth.

This three-year project, led jointly with Dr Glenn Adamson (Victoria and Albert Museum) and Dr Giorgio Riello (University of Warwick), was the first to investigate the applicability of global history methods for design history, and vice versa. The project convened 26 historians, designers, sociologists and anthropologists working in the UK, Europe and overseas to consider key questions and methods for writing histories of design in global networks, and was published as an edited volume with Routledge in 2011.

This research into changes in technical drawing for furniture design and manufacturing in Japan c. 1900, in relation to early modern Japanese carpentry drawing practices, larger changes in the design and woodworking industries after the late nineteenth century and the emergence of design drawing in industry and compulsory education, considered the relationship between drawing as a physical practice and the ‘design thinking’ engendered by the need to plan and represent the manufacturing process in 2D. The research produced two single-authored articles as well as a joint paper on contemporary practice with Ashley Hall (Royal College of Art) and Dr Peter Childs (Imperial College), all forthcoming.

This project takes case studies in prominent exhibition activities and human networks in post-war Japanese product and furniture design and its representation in the United States to investigate the relationship and relative impacts of local political, economic and social concerns and global or transnational ones on collaborative projects between different communities. To date, the project has generated three articles, all of which are forthcoming. Two analyse political and economic concerns underlying mutual and divergent motivations among the organisers of two exhibitions: Japanese House and Garden (Museum of Modern Art, 1954–55) and Japan: Design Today (Walker Art Center/Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibitions, 1960–2). The third explores the relationship between architects, designers and manufacturers in 1950s Japan, with a focus on architect Tange Kenzo and designer Kenmochi Isamu.

This large project, now in initial development, analyses the responses of actors in established and emerging areas of design practice including product, graphic, furniture, fashion, vehicle, interaction and service design to political, economic, technological and social change and challenges in Japan following the end of post-war high economic growth in 1991. Because design industries depend upon and are integral to the functioning of Japan's manufacturing base and consumer economy, mapping and identifying strategies for adapting in new circumstances will provide insight into an important period in Japanese history, generate methods for writing contemporary history through design and can inform design-led innovation in changing conditions elsewhere, including Britain today. Elements of the project are in development as an exhibition with the Victoria and Albert Museum, and as a collaborative research project with colleagues in Japan.