a-small-lab by Chris Berthelsen. Focusing on research and practice in creativity. Based in Tokyo
email: chris@a-small-lab.com
twitter: @a_small_lab
project index
**FIXES: Investigating alterations of space/objects at the public/private boundary in suburban Tokyo.**
"Chris has an amazing eye for the creativity of Japanese people making small changes to their environment and blurring the boundary of private and public space. This blog project is simply genius."[Ref]
> A featured resource of the URBAN DESIGN Lab 西村・北沢・窪田 都市デザイン研究室, Department of Urban Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo: [LINK]
> Included in the syllabus for Mega-Cities: Design Anthropology and Urban Landscapes, a Tokyo University graduate seminar on mega-cities taught by Jared Braiterman. You can download the syllabus [HERE]
> Project Resource/Log: [LINK to Project Resource]
> View the project page [HERE]
**Tokyo Local Fruit Study**
A public project looking at non-commercial fruit in Tokyo private gardens and public spaces. We hope to learn about what is being grown, where, and how it is being enjoyed and shared - the simple, everyday tastes, stories and memories of fruit in Tokyo.
東京の地元で出来た果物を食べたり、育てたり、分け合ったりしていますか。地元で取れた、非商業の果物に関する話を集めています。あなたの話を聞かせてください。
アンケートは：こちら
Do you eat, grow, or share local fruit in Tokyo? We are collecting stories about Tokyo local, or non-commercial, fruit. Please share yours.
Click here to start survey
> A collaboration with Jared Braiterman and Jess Mantell.
> We'll be presenting this project at the Pechakucha Global Cities Week (Tokyo) on Feb 23 [HERE].
> Parts of this project will be published in ALL YOU CAN EAT! - a book about using food as a tool for urban development - [HERE] (when they find a publisher).
**Keep Your City Delicious!**
Keep your city beautiful? How about keeping it delicious for a change!
Short examples from 'Keep your city delicious' (街をおいしく！）activities in Tokyo.
View the slideshow: [ON SLIDESHARE]
**Hand Made**
Starting to post rough collage notes/writing on the hand made city and Tokyo. Frequently updated.
> http://a-small-lab.com/text/
**Hand Made Play**
Notes from a collaborative + open research project investigating, enjoying, and learning from the self-initiated and non-commercial play of children in Tokyo.
> http://a-small-lab.com/hand-made-play/
**Understanding the Child-Scale in the City (1): Excerpts from Rainy Day Treasures (雨の日の宝物）**
What is the child-scale? How can we begin to understand it? How can this experience inform building and design ideas and practice?
Play is intensely important. Start developing an idea of (non)designing for playing. The walk that this extract depicts brought forth ideas of grain/granularity of street surfaces (materials), balance and tracing (paths, curbs), humble events, routine/ritual, liquid (refreshment, ballistics, power)... for a start.
View the Excerpts (images, text) HERE
**FIXing the Neighbourhood: Investigations in Suburban Tokyo / Sketching for Usable Cities**
A scrambled, semi-off-the-cuff presentation for the Institute for Information Design Japan workshop “Transforming Neighbourhoods - Tokyo/Berlin" organised by Jan Lindenberg.
> View the slideshow: [ON SLIDESHARE]
**Tokyo DIY Gardening**
An open sourcebook and resource for urban gardening on a personal level -- “hands-on gardening for a crowded city”. It includes ‘how-to’ examples/instructions, photo essays, observations, interviews, articles and more with the aim of knowledge sharing and creation around low-cost, agile gardening in dense cities (with a focus on Tokyo).
> View the project website: [Tokyo DIY Gardening]
> A collaboration with Harvard and Stanford anthropologist, Japan Council on Foreign Relations Hitachi Fellow, and Tokyo Green Space founder Jared Braiterman.
**Hand Made Tokyo Book Preview & Download**
Lots of preview images of the Hand Made Tokyo document of the 3331 Arts CYD Tokyo mapping workshop we did last summer.
A5, 126 pages
Take a look at the preview [HERE]
**Building for Plants and Play**
Turning an unusable and unfriendly suburban jungle/rubbish dump into a usable space for children, plants and parents.
> View progress [on Flickr]
**Kokonohanashi (ここの話）**
"....an amazing, low tech and also analog project that creates community dialogue about public, publicly visible, and abandoned urban spaces." [Ref]
The Kokonohanashi (「ここの話」 lit. 'talking about here') project works locally with a combination of analogue (notebooks, pens, laminated A4 posters, wire, legwork) and open low-tech digital tools (QR codes, stripped down Wordpress, email, smart-and-not-so-smart-phones) to investigate the development of a platform for discussion about, and positive action in, city space by the people who most matter - those who experience and use the place in their everyday lives.
> View details and download documents [HERE]
**A Board Game about City Accessibility**
Produced in collaboration with Mammoth School and Knee High Media for the second issue of the Mammoth School free paper, "Look-A-Round" is a board game which encourages learning about city accessibility.
> View photos [HERE]
**Amidakuji - Storytelling Game**
Produced in collaboration with Mammoth School and Knee High Media for the third issue of the Mammoth School free paper, "Amidakuji" builds on a traditional Japanese game for fun and weird storytelling. Illustrated by the fantastic Hiyoko Imai.
Downloads and video [HERE]
**Tokyo Colour-In Preview and Activities**
Tokyo colour-in. The colouring-in book of Tokyo street art (180p)
A colouring-in book of Tokyo street art created to introduce little hands and minds to the fine-grained hand made aspect of human(e) creativity on the street.
Take a look at the preview [HERE]
and check the slowly growing set of activities for use with the book [HERE]
**Managing For Creativity in Japan**
"Tremendous insight for those that want to define new roles and promote creative ideas within Japanese organizations." [Ref])
A series of in-depth interviews with Japan-based non-Japanese executives of companies with primarily Japanese workforces.
> A featured resource of the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business Center for Japan-U.S. Business and Economic Studies [LINK]
> View details and download documents [HERE]
**Patterns of Japanese Creativity**
This ongoing study reviews the Japanese business and management literature to uncover the principles, strategies and circumstances at the heart of the creative successes of Japanese companies (and compare and contrast them with the 'West').
> Project Resource: [LINK]
**Other Creative Climate Research**
> View brief details of other creative climate research (you can always email me for more information) [HERE]
**Tokyo Street Art Research**
A 5,500 image survey of street art in selected areas of Tokyo (Shibuya, Shinjuku (Kabukicho, Hyakunincho), Kunitachi) collected as part of an investigation into the relationship of creative uses of public space and spatial configuration.
> More details and links [HERE]
**Structures and Textures of Nagoya (2003-4)**
A resource, a toolkit, of rare images of the structures and textures of the gradually decaying city of Nagoya, Japan (735 images)
This image resource is available for purchase for commercial (no use restrictions) and non-commerical use - Click here for more details.
**Berlin Design Resource**
A photo resource and book was made for a major Japanese clothing design/retail company (800+ photos, book, context/translation).
> Take a look at a couple of photos here [LINK]
**The Nature Prints**
The Nature Prints: A collage story for all ages and eras is an open publication commissioned by a-small-lab
> Take a look here [LINK]
**The Works of God**
The Works of God (edited by christ) is an open publication commissioned by a-small-lab
This book features 21 poems, short stories, drawings, conceptual pieces by a number of angsty 20 year olds. May offend (probably will). Features racist, sexist, and other -ist content. All tongue in cheek but nevertheless harsh. Please don't view this if you are going to have a problem with it.
> Take a look here [LINK]
**Off Cuts**
Collage, paint, scans and more...open image resources (Creative Commons) from the floor of a-small-lab
> View and Download Hi-Res Images [LINK to Flickr]
coming soon
**Services for Neighbourhood and City Interaction**
Currently in discussions to launch the Japanese versions of two services that facilitate neighbourhood and city interaction for more human communities.
**Small Report: 好きな公園 (Parks I like)**
A small report on aspects of loved neighbourhood parks with the help of a group of neighbourhood kids.
**City Blocks: An as yet unannounced collaborative public art/education project with a Tokyo-based publisher**
“Become familiar & comfortable with your environment, share and discuss, develop the facility to play with, rearrange, reimagine, create spaces and places. Explore the neighbourhoods of Japan through the eyes of other children, discover what they care for and have fun with."
**FIXES: The non-intentional design of Tokyo - a card game**
Based on the images and research of the FIXES: Non-Intentional Design (NID) Research in Tokyo project, this card game/resource aims to increase awareness of NID thinking and practice and to act as an entry point to a deeper experience of Tokyo as a lived city.
**A long collage/essay on Tokyo**
Three out of seven nights, From 11pm-2am.
