October 3, 2013
The design enlightenment program of Creative Design City Nagoya for this fiscal year focused on the Aichi Triennale 2013 Partnership Event, in which specialists guided and interpreted for a design tour of historic structures in Nagoya. This event aimed to enhance participants’ design IQ, offering an opportunity to discover afresh Nagoya’s individuality and charm by referring to expert, profound knowledge.
Tour participants visited Yokiso, a villa owned by Jirozaemon-Suketami Ito, the first president of Matsuzakaya Department Store Co., Ltd. and donated in 2007 to the City of Nagoya. It is one of the masterpieces of villa architecture to be found on the outskirts of the city. Following the commentary of specialists expressly provided for this event, participants visited the villa’s southern garden where they studied the structure known as Choshokaku, fully restored and opened to the public this past August. They then looked around the northern garden’s Bangarou, or Bungalow and strolled around the garden. (The tour lasted about ninety minutes.)
To complete the tour, visitors settled into the former cellar ballroom and current multipurpose room of Choshokaku, where they enjoyed hearing the director of Yokiso talk about the notable Jirozaemon-Suketami Ito as well as a salon-type mini concert in this space with its exotic, Indian interior design. (This session also lasted about ninety minutes.) Matsuzakaya Department Store began as Ito Gofukuten, or Ito Dry Goods Store. In 1911, this enterprise created the Ito Gofukuten Boys Music Band, which eventually developed into what is today Japan’s oldest extant orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Against the backdrop of this historic episode, members from the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra created a reminiscent session with 10 pieces of music celebrating the Yokiso of the past.
| Date: | Sunday, 29 September, 2013 2:45pm - 6:00pm |
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| Venue: | 〒464-0057 |
| Organizer: | Creative Design City Nagoya Organizing Committee |
| Link: |
