Welcome to Takram’s Newsletter — a regular digest of news, projects, events and activities, keeping you up to date with the Tokyo, London, New York and Shanghai studios.

Takram has joined over one hundred designers in co-signing the Design Declares initiative.

We, as a design and innovation practice, recognise the direct and indirect harm that design has caused to our planet's climate and biodiversity. But we also believe that we can harness our expertise and global network for design's transition towards a regenerative practice. Co-signing Design Declares is our first step in this journey.

We look forward to learning more through this process and we encourage our fellow designers to consider joining us in this journey.

Design Declares

Takram designed and developed “H3 Flight Status Indication System for Public (H3 FIP)”, a real-time visualization system that tracks the flight status of the H3 Launch Vehicle. The system will be installed at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center and will be used for the live coverage of the countdown and launch of the rocket.

The system also incorporates phenomena that can only be seen from space, such as atmospheric scattering. For more information, please visit the project page.

View the project at Takram.com

Takram’s New York office has recently moved to Greenpoint in Brooklyn. We are excited to be working alongside and sharing a space with fellow design studio Monopo.

If you are ever in Brooklyn, please drop us a message to stop by and say hello!

Framing the Future is a symposium that will explore the potential of Web3 technologies to solve big challenges. Occurring virtually over four days next week (November 7 – 10, 2022), the talks, panels, and debates will aim to look beyond the surface of the headline-grabbing, twitter-trending, hype machine that is Web3.

Yosuke Ushigome of Takram London is an invited panellist. Join the event to hear him discuss the importance of inclusivity in speculative design – ensuring the process is open, democratic, and just, resulting in outcomes defined by those most affected by the visions.

Tickets and More Information

What has caught our interest recently? We asked a few Takram members to share things they've found interesting, inspiring, or worth sharing:

Beyond Catastrophe – A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View (New York Times)

"David Wallace-Wells writes about the progress that has been made on climate change in the recent years. I found it particularly helpful to read this piece and reflect upon the progress that has been made and the work that still remains yet to be done.”

– Michael, Takram London

Someone clever once said women were not allowed Pockets (James Diehm & Amber Thomas)

"I dropped my mobile phone while riding my bike the other day - it slipped through my pocket. Reading this profoundly changed my view on the role of design.“
 

– Naomi, Takram New York

CAPS LOCK — How capitalism took hold of graphic design, and how to escape from it (Ruben Pater)

“Ruben Pater discusses various roles that design and designers have played, from Scribe and Salesperson to Worker and Educator, in forming and reinforcing the capitalist structure, and how we can now take alternative roles to enact systems change. The chapter The Designer as Futurist was particularly close to home and helpful in conceptualising what I aspire to be doing.”

– Yosuke, Takram London

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