Hasta La Ideas

Lauded as the most awarded designer on the A’ Design Award roster, and even sitting on top of the World Designer Ranking with 13 Platinum Awards, 20 Golden Awards and as many as 44 awarded designs bringing his total to 218 points, Katsumi Tamura is a multiple award-winning Professional Designer from Tokyo / Japan specialized in Graphic Design. Tamura’s design awards go to his quirky calendars that don’t just sit on your desk, they adorn it. With a playful demeanor and an eye-catching appeal, Tamura’s calendars are functional works of art. Styled as everything from furniture to animals, to even buildings, Tamura’s calendars are designed to be interactive. They don’t just sit on your table for an entire year before being replaced with a new calendar. They add beauty and fun to your workspace, they encourage you to engage with them, examine them from all angles, and even show them off to other people.

With 44 A’ Design Awards among many other prestigious awards (including Red Dot, iF, and IDA Awards) under their belt, Tamura’s body of work really speaks for itself. His explorations with paper and the ability to turn something as mundane as a calendar into an objet d’art is remarkable. Tamura’s company good morning inc. has seen its fair share of exposure, courtesy these multiple awards. Scroll down as we dip into Tamura’s take on how to reimagine looking at dates on a piece of paper. Whether it’s Tamura’s laser-like focus in his domain, or Dr. Hakan Gursu‘s ability to span different design categories, A’ Design Awards provides a brilliant amount of diversity, catching projects from all walks of life, across countries, cultures, and design backgrounds. You can read more publications on the A’ Design Award by clicking here.

Click Here to submit your entries for the A’ Design Awards 2019-20 program! Last day to submit your work is the 28th of February!

Designer: Katsumi Tamura

The 2018 Tri-Leg Calendar by Tamura involves interlocking triangles that form a tripod-esque design that can either stack into one another, sit independently, or be propped vertically like a tall tower. The choice is yours!

The 2013 Town Calendar looks at architecture for inspiration, turning your days into a literal diorama.

The 2013 Rocking Chair calendar is one of my favorites! It uses the month-cards in a unique way where the passive cards sit where your cushion would be, while the active card rests against the structure to form the backrest, and face you as you look at it. You could try giving the rocking chair a push too!

The 2018 Puzzle Calendar uses various cuts in circular, triangular, and square-shaped cards to create a game where you can go wild by creating your own structural calendar. Just like each month is different, and your year is different from someone else’s, your calendar is unique too!

The 2012 Zoo Calendar takes your favorite animals from the zoo and transforms them into months on a calendar, turning your desktop into an urban attraction! We won’t judge you if you play with them while no one’s looking. We promise.

The 2013 Module Calendar is both fun and self-explanatory. It provides a framework for building your own vertical towers, much like LEGO. Create blocks or skyscrapers… the choice is yours.

The 2015 Arc Calendar was created for the YUPO corporation using their environmentally friendly synthetic YUPO paper, which is known for its remarkable color-representation properties. The calendar is printed on a single sheet and folded (no glue required) to form an arc-shaped design that introduces depth to create a foreground, middle-ground, and a background, making each month look like a 3D landscape.

The 2013 Farm Calendar builds on the success and the cute-appeal of the 2012 Zoo Calendar. It takes inspiration from various farm animals, realizing them into standing 3D prototypes with the month information etched on each animal’s torso. Don’t miss the adorable barn that comes with the set!

The 2018 Swing Calendar is perhaps the most inventive of the set, featuring an actual swing made out of paper. It relies on the same format as the 2013 Rocking Chair Calendar, but explores a type of furniture that is truly more eye-catching. And yes, you can interact with and push this one too!

The 2018 Windmill Calendar requires a bit of periodic assembly, with four fan blades that have the months printed on each of them. Rotate the windmill’s fan to make sure the active month’s blade is upright and easy to read. Give the fan a 90° rotation every month, and at the end of 4 months, just replace the fan element with another one that has the next set of months printed on it. It would make for a great desktop showpiece, wouldn’t it??

Click Here to submit your entries for the A’ Design Awards 2019-20 program! Last day to submit your work is the 28th of February!