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The Tokyo department store Isetan hosted the Life with Smile exhibition at this year's Design Tide. It showed the Fantasy collection that Jamie Hayon created for the Spanish ceramic manufacturer LLADRO (presented already earlier this year in Milan) as well as new products by Alessi, Floyd and others. Whether it was the Magic Bunny or the Birdy electric shaver - a lot of the products shown definitely deserved the Japanese cuteness tag of being very "kawaii". But we particularly loved the ingenious Pop Up Slippers, designed by Genta and Chie Kanayama.

The Midtown Design Centre showed the results of this year's Tokyo Midtown Award "Japanese New Souvenir" - a competition where designers were asked to create a new suitable souvenir for Japan. The winning entries we liked most is the Japan Paper Weight (simply a red cylinder) by Miki Mochizuki, the inflatable Air Bonsai by Wabisabi, the Japanese paper Face Mask by Kozue Kojima, the Sock Shoes by Joji Murayama and the Cherry Blossom Soap Flakes by Mayumi Kondo.

» View all Tokyo Design Festival 2008 posts.