21_21 DESIGN SIGHT is presenting the exhibition “Learning from Design Maestros,” on view from November 21, 2025 to March 8, 2026.The exhibition is directed by Noriko Kawakami, design journalist, and Kaoru Tashiro, curator and writer.

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In an age where information circulates instantly and values shift dramatically, this exhibition begins with a simple yet essential question:What can we learn today by revisiting the activities of the masters who offered diverse perspectives through design?

Who Are the “Design Maestros”? — Six Postwar European Masters

The exhibition focuses on six figures who shaped the landscape of 20th-century design.

Bruno Munari (1907–1998)
Born in Milan, Munari moved freely between painting, sculpture, graphics, product design, photography and education. From his roots in Futurism and his experimental “useless machines” to his collaborations with DANESE and his many picture books, he presented a design philosophy that moved fluidly between play and intellect.

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Achille Castiglioni (1918–2002)
Educated in architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, Castiglioni is celebrated for lighting designs such as the Arco and Taccia lamps. Working first with his brothers and later independently, he helped advance industrial design in Italy and contributed to the founding of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI).

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Max Bill (1908–1994)
A Bauhaus alumnus and a leading figure in Swiss modernism, Bill worked as an architect, artist, graphic designer and Gestalter. A central figure of Concrete Art, he co-founded the Ulm School of Design, designed its campus, and created iconic works such as the Junghans clocks and the Ulm Stool—pursuing design as “environmental form.”

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Otl Aicher (1922–1991)
A pioneering German graphic designer who shaped the postwar visual landscape. As co-founder of the Ulm School of Design, he helped build a new educational foundation, and earned international acclaim for the Munich 1972 Olympic identity, the Lufthansa CI, and other works that integrated information and environment.

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Enzo Mari (1932–2020)
Through his projects with DANESE and his designs for furniture and everyday objects, Mari continually questioned the ethics, production methods and meaning behind form. His critical writings, notably Progetto e passione, continue to influence collaborations with Japanese manufacturers.

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Dieter Rams (1932– )
The German industrial designer who drove Braun’s design department and formulated the philosophy of “Less, but better” and the Ten Principles of Good Design. His functional and refined products established a design language that continues to shape contemporary electronics and digital devices.

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Despite their differing methods and personalities, all six shared a commitment to working with conviction and hope, exploring what lay ahead of their time, and opening new horizons for society.

The exhibition also highlights the perspective of Shutaro Mukai (1932–2024), who studied under Bill and Aicher at Ulm and later established the foundation of design studies in Japan—bridging these postwar European currents with Japanese design education.

What the Directors Observed — Designers as “Projectors,” Beyond Form

Kawakami and Tashiro identify a common axis among the six masters:although their ways of working and living differed, they all approached design as a human-centered and environmentally conscious undertaking.Notably, many referred to themselves not simply as “designers,” but as:
Gestalter / Entwerfer (German)
Progettista (Italian)
Terms that translate to “one who conceives, one who structures, one who projects.”

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The directors see this choice of words as evidence that they regarded design not as styling, but as an integrated act—rooted in research, thought, iteration and synthesis. Behind every outstanding “form” lies long, invisible layers of reasoning and revision. Such depth is what enables a work to transcend its era and place, and why these masters remain vital references today.

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At the heart of the exhibition is a question that resonates strongly in today’s uncertainty:“From here, how do we move forward?”

Exhibition Structure — A Place to Encounter Projects and Philosophies

The exhibition presents not only the six masters’ iconic works and materials, but also photographs, documents and voices that reveal their thinking.

A highlight is the moving-image installation by Seiichi Hishikawa (DRAWING AND MANUAL), which layers archival photographs with spoken footage to introduce the six figures in a multidimensional way. With the cooperation of Musashino Art University’s Department of Science of Design, previously unreleased footage of Otl Aicher is also being shown.

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The exhibition also casts light on the organizations and brands closely connected to these “Design Maestros.”It introduces the founding philosophy of DANESE, the Italian modern-design interior brand shaped by Munari, Castiglioni, and Mari; the educational ideology of the Ulm School of Design, indispensable to understanding the achievements of Bill and Aicher; and the work of Shutaro Mukai, who carried Ulm’s design lineage into Japan.

Presented through products, archival materials, photographs, and documents, these displays reveal not only individual masterpieces but also the wider networks and intellectual landscapes that surrounded each designer.

What We Inherit from the Maestros Today

As visitors take in the beauty of each work—the precision of forms, the clarity of functions—they are invited to look further, toward the philosophies and social viewpoints underpinning them.The six “teachers” emerge as figures who believed deeply in each individual’s ability to think, act and choose their direction.

Design, as an act of thinking, making and communicating, becomes inseparable from how we live.By returning to these foundations, the exhibition asks visitors to consider what message design can send to today’s society—and how each of us might respond.

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Meeting these six masters—figures of immense curiosity, inquiry and courage—may shift how we perceive the forms that surround us every day.