Shared by friends and collaborators of Japan House London, 'Words & Thoughts' is a collection of words, characters or phrases in Japanese which are particularly poignant to them or for our time.
Saitō Seiichi is a prominent designer, director of Panoramatiks (formerly Rhizomatiks Architecture), and the artistic director of the exhibition MAKING NUNO Japanese Textile Innovation from Sudō Reiko.
He chose: 共創 ('kyō sō': co-creation)
"Kyōsō is a key principle in my work. Kyōsō with the same pronunciation although written with different characters, can also mean 'competition', which has a nuance of opposition. In contrast, the kyōsō I am referring to is written with characters meaning ‘co-creation’ … yet I feel that it includes an element of competition, too. I think respect for others’ work combined with friendly rivalry, as each person vies to raise the level of their own skills and knowledge, is what leads to creative craftmanship. For me, kyōsō is not limited to creating things together with other people: it can encompass many different collaborative relationships, between creators and their materials, their techniques and the materials, people and their environment, humans and nature, and so on. It’s always important to be altruistic and think about others, think about how to bring out the best in others. That’s why I chose this word."
私が様々なものを創るときに大事にしている精神が共創です。競い合う「競争」と日本語では同じ発音をしますし、対局的な意味合いがあるかもしれませんが、共につくる「共創」にも「競争」の意味が少し入っているように感じています。お互いを尊重してものを作ること、切磋琢磨しながらお互いにその中で技術や知識を高め合うことは結果として良いものを創ることに繋がると思います。共創は人と人の間だけでは有りません、人と素材、技術と素材、人と自然、人と場所など利他的に互いを想い、考え、お互いを引き出すことをいつも忘れないようにこの言葉を選びました。