DESIGN FOR COMPANIONSHIP

Featured Artist: Kengo Horikoshi

KENGO HORIKOSHI: DESIGN FOR COMPANIONSHIP

Kengo Horikoshi is a Japanese product designer based in London whose work explores the emotional potential of everyday objects. With a professional background in law and business at Mitsui & Co., Horikoshi’s transition to design was marked by a desire to move from abstract systems to tactile, human-centred solutions. His MA training at the University of the Arts London and the Royal College of Art has since shaped a nuanced practice that blends rigorous functionality with pleasant user engagement.

S-one (2021)

Horikoshi’s practice centres on creating objects that not only serve functional needs but also enrich the emotional landscapes of daily life. His early explorations, such as S-one, demonstrate his fascination with surrealism and the fusion of form and metaphor. In this project, cutlery morphs into a swan-blurring boundaries between domestic utility and symbolic ornament. This playful object-as-character motif recurs throughout his oeuvre, maturing from sculptural novelty into relational design.

Stand by You (2024)

This evolution becomes particularly clear in Stand by You, a seminal collection that marks a methodological shift in both concept and material treatment. Here, Horikoshi embraces anthropomorphism not as aesthetic flourish but as a mode of emotional design-positioning furniture as silent companions to counteract contemporary loneliness. Drawing on wood’s natural textures and warmth, the pieces are modular and customisable, encouraging users to dress, arrange, and emotionally invest in them. The organic grain becomes expressive rather than decorative, and interactive elements like “ears” and “noses” double as hooks or handles, enhancing the furniture’s presence as a co-inhabitant rather than inert object.

Stand by you, 2024，Blue: 110 x 30 x 30cm, Yellow&Green: 50 x 30 x 30cm

Grow (2024)

This shift towards relational modularity continues in Grow at Adaptations, a sustainable prototype chair created in collaboration with USM Modular Furniture. This chair can be adjusted to accommodate the growth of user, allowing for lifelong usability from childhood to adulthood.

Grow offers effortless adjustability in seat size, height, and the positioning of the armrests, backrest, and footrest, making it exceptionally responsive to a user's growth over time. Its design also allows for further customization, such as attaching tables or altering leg lengths to accommodate diverse needs and fit seamlessly into various spaces. Thanks to the modularity, durability, and enduring elegance of USM Modular Furniture, this chair represents a sustainable solution—built to last a lifetime and be cherished across generations. Designed to accompany the user from childhood through adulthood, Grow responds to lifecycle design needs, adapting in form without abandoning its core identity - an ethos echoing Horikoshi’s own creative arc.

Grow, 2024, Exhibition Adaptations

Tearing Chair (2023)

Across these projects, Horikoshi’s material choices - wood, metal, tactile finishes - are increasingly selected not only for durability and aesthetics but for their capacity to carry warmth and memory. His works reflect a maturing design philosophy in which the emotional, social, and sensory needs of users are not an afterthought but a foundation. In an era of digital detachment and transient living, Horikoshi’s practice offers a quiet resistance: design as companionship, longevity, and delight.

Editor: Lavinia Jin