The entire function is that it says: inside here, and not out there.
Start with the name, because it’s doing real work.
Ukiyo is a Japanese word, usually translated as “the floating world.” It named the pleasure districts of Edo era Tokyo and, by extension, an entire attitude: live in the moment you’re in, because it’s brief and it’s the one available. It’s where ukiyo-e comes from, the woodblock prints of actors, courtesans and Hokusai’s wave, which are among the most exported images Japan has ever produced.
That’s a considered thing to name a rolling tray after. The floating world was about carving out a space where ordinary rules were suspended for a few hours.
Which is more or less what a tray does.
It contains a mess so that the mess stops being a mess.
That’s the whole design problem and it’s genuinely a design problem. A raised lip stops things migrating. A defined edge means the surface underneath stays clean and the ritual gets a stage. Without one you’re working on a table and everything ends up on the floor. With one, the activity has a boundary, and boundaries are what let something read as deliberate rather than as chaos.
The Essential is the plain version, which I’d argue is the right one. Rolling trays are a category that has been overwhelmed by novelty graphics, and a tray covered in cartoon printing is a tray you have to hide. An unadorned one can sit out on a shelf and read as a small serving tray, because that’s exactly what it is.
Good objects for ordinary activities. That’s most of what this campaign is about.
For Tobacco Use Only
The entire function is that it says: inside here, and not out there.
Start with the name, because it’s doing real work.
Ukiyo is a Japanese word, usually translated as “the floating world.” It named the pleasure districts of Edo era Tokyo and, by extension, an entire attitude: live in the moment you’re in, because it’s brief and it’s the one available. It’s where ukiyo-e comes from, the woodblock prints of actors, courtesans and Hokusai’s wave, which are among the most exported images Japan has ever produced.
That’s a considered thing to name a rolling tray after. The floating world was about carving out a space where ordinary rules were suspended for a few hours.
Which is more or less what a tray does.
It contains a mess so that the mess stops being a mess.
That’s the whole design problem and it’s genuinely a design problem. A raised lip stops things migrating. A defined edge means the surface underneath stays clean and the ritual gets a stage. Without one you’re working on a table and everything ends up on the floor. With one, the activity has a boundary, and boundaries are what let something read as deliberate rather than as chaos.
The Essential is the plain version, which I’d argue is the right one. Rolling trays are a category that has been overwhelmed by novelty graphics, and a tray covered in cartoon printing is a tray you have to hide. An unadorned one can sit out on a shelf and read as a small serving tray, because that’s exactly what it is.
Good objects for ordinary activities. That’s most of what this campaign is about.
For Tobacco Use Only
