Air that draws people closer to their emotions
Are you aware of the existence of "Air"? Most people have never really thought of it.
Yet, you have probably been on a trip or taken a leisurely outing and felt an extremely refreshing feeling while enjoying the natural beauty of a grassy field bursting with greenery or a sprawling sea. At that time, you probably even thought, "The air is so clean. It's so invigorating." Even in everyday life, spending time in a comfortable room, air can help you feel relaxed, give you a feeling of serenity, and even relieve fatigue.
Air resides in nature and living spaces, and naturally you find it in the space between people. It gives expression to our emotions. When there is tension between people, we want to "clear the air," and when we are elated we feel like we are "walking on air."
When members of a company or organization undertake a mission, the surrounding air can create a pleasant mood that significantly improves the motivation of each individual and team camaraderie. This may be why Japanese people since ancient times have lifted morale with the expression "shiki wo takameru." It translates in English to "raise the fighting spirit," but it also conveys the nuance of the surrounding air.
Even when words are not spoken, there are times when we sense the general feeling of the people in the room. In Japanese we say, "kuki wo yomu," which literally means reading the air, but actually describes knowing the unspoken thoughts of others.
The bond between a mother and her newborn is an example of this type of communication. The newborn cannot speak but senses the mother's warmth, kindness, and closeness and in turn expresses its emotions by crying and laughing.
In this way, air nestles close to us 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and we think of it as being cool, warm, comfortable, gentle, soft, and pleasant depending on the sensations it stirs inside us.
Enriching the heart with air
In spite of the many effects that air has on us, air itself is invisible. Nevertheless, most of us are able to perceive its existence through our senses. Accompanying environmental changes, interest in air has significantly increased with people regulating room temperature and humidity, visiting places where the air is especially clean, and purchasing air purifiers for the home. In this way, we may not be consciously thinking about the existence of air, but we are constantly aware of how it makes us feel.
When that air becomes integrated in design and better utilized, I believe that our daily lives and heartfelt emotions become further enriched.
With the hope of enriching people's hearts with sensations of feeling cool, warm, gentle, soft, and pleasant while also providing comfort, we at DAIKIN design are tackling "visualization of air."
Visualization of air
The magnificence of something invisible appeals to the sensibilities of many people, and this can make it difficult for ideas and concepts to fully resonate.
For this reason, in designing air we also strive toward "visualization of air."
For example, when speaking of air purifiers, even when we quantitatively display just how much debris and dust has been collected and how clean the air has become, this can be difficult to for users to comprehend. So we designed the lamps in our air purifiers to change colors from red to green when a fixed amount of dust and debris has been collected.
Seeing the lamp turn green makes it easy to visually recognize that the air is clean. Unsurprisingly, you will also probably notice the comfort you feel from the clean air.
Possibilities of air design to extend limitlessly
"Visualization of air" in the space between people leads to better air environments, and higher air quality can play a role in alleviating the tension felt from awkward human relations and a stressful society. Through Daikin technology, we can appreciate the refreshing feeling of air from the great outdoors at home without traveling far away.
As with the bond between a mother and her newborn, air plays an integral part of shaping our experience and emotions, and as awareness for air grows the higher expectations we have for it to enrich our lives. As a designer, the more I think about the new doors this will open, the more excited I become for the possibilities of air design to extend limitlessly.
DAIKIN design visualizes the possibilities of air one-by-one, makes them substantial, and helps delivers them to society.
