MUJI

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MUJI store in Paris

Ryohin Keikaku Co.,Ltd. (株式会社良品計画, Kabushiki-gaisha Ryōhin Keikaku^?) (TYO: 7453), or MUJI (無印良品, Mujirushi Ryōhin^?) is a Japanese retail company which sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods.

Muji is distinguished by its design minimalism, emphasis on recycling, avoidance of waste in production and packaging, and no-logo or "no-brand" policy.

The name Muji is derived from the first part of Mujirushi Ryōhin, translated as No Brand Quality Goods on Muji's European website [1].

1 Products and Businesses
2 History
3 Countries of operations
4 No-Brand Brand
5 Design
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Products and Businesses

Muji started with 40 products and now includes more than 7,000 products. Muji products range from stationary, and clothing for men and women, to food items and major kitchen appliances. Its primary business includes Café MUJI, Meal MUJI, MUJI Campsite, florist and home furnishing; the company has recently taken steps into housing construction.

Muji is positioned as a "reasonably priced" high quality, keeping the retail prices of products "lower than usual" by the materials it selects, streamlining its manufacturing processes, and minimising packaging.^[1]

[edit] History

Muji began as a product brand of The Seiyu, Ltd. in December 1980. In 1989 Ryohin Keikaku Ltd became the manufacturer and retailer for all Muji products and operations. Including planning, development, production, distribution and sale.

In 1983 the firts directly operated Muji store openend. In 1985 Muji started overseas production and procurement, started to place direct factory orders in 1986 and in 1987 Muji started to develop materail globally.

In 1991 Muji opened its firts international store in London, UK.

In 1995 shares in “MUJI Tsunan Campsite” were registered as over-the-counter shares of Japan Securities Dealers Association. 1998 Muji listed on the second section of the the Tokyo Stock Exchange. From 2001 onwards Muji was listed on the first section. ^[2]

[edit] Countries of operations

In addition to its large and small retail outlets in Japan, MUJI has 3 factory outlets at Osaka, Gotenba and Fukuoka.^[3]

In Japan Muji has directly operated 181 stores and supplies 147 outlets, as of end February 2008.^[4]

International retail outlets as of end February 2008 include UK (16), France (7), Italy (3), Germany (2), Ireland (1), Sweden (6), Norway (6), Spain (3), US (1), Hong Kong (6), Singapore (3), Taiwan (11), Korea (6), China (1), and Thailand (4).^[5]

In New York Muji supplies products to a design store at The Museum of Modern Art, as well as maintaining a flagship store. ^[6] The store chain has 285 stores in Japan, employing around 3400 employees.^[7]

[edit] No-Brand Brand

Muji's no-brand strategy means that the little money is spent on advertisement or classical marketing and Muji's success is attributed to the word of mouth, a simple shopping experience and the anti-brand movement. Muji's no-brand strategy also means its products are attractive to customers who prefer unbranded products for purely aesthethic reasons. ^[8] ^[9] ^[10] ^[11]

Muji has released a t-shirt with a rubber square on the chest for customer to design their own logo or message.^[12]

Although the company styles itself as a brandless brand, some of its most popular designs are thought to be by well known and established product designers.

The protagonist of William Gibson's 2003 novel Pattern Recognition, being allergic to brands and corporate logos, wears clothing from MUJI.

[edit] Design

Muji is known for its distinctive design, which is continued throughout its more than 7,000 products. Commentators have described Muji's design style as having mundanity^[13], being "no-frills" and being "minimalist porn".^[14]

Muji product design, and brand identity, is based around selection materials, a streamlined manufacturing processes, and minimal packaging. On its corporate website Ryohin Keikaku Ltd rationalises these principles in terms of producing high quality products at "lower than ususal" retail prices.^[15] On its Catalogue website Muji states that "at the heart of Muji design is the Japanese concept of "Kanketsu", the concept of simplicity", aiming to "bring a quiet sense of calm into strenuous everyday lives."^[16] In an interview Hiroyoshi Azami, President of Muji USA, describes Muji's design cuture as centred around designing "simple" products that are basic and necessary. ^[17]. In its design Muji also follows environmental guidelines, seeking to "restrict the use of substances that may have a significant impact on people or the environment" and "reduce waste by standardising modules, facilitating disassembly and by reducing packaging".^[18] The muji design process resists technology and prototypes are produced with paper rather than computers, so as not to encourage unecessary detail.^[19]

Muji products have a limited colour range and are displayed on shelves with minimal packaging, displaying only functional product information and a price tag.^[20]

Muji products are not attributed to individual designers. Muji has publicly stated that some of its products have been the works of famous international designers, although it does not disclose which ones.^[21] Nevertheless commentators have linked certain Muji products with named designers the "Wall Mounted CD player" is designed by Naoto Fukasawa of Plus Minus Zero, the "2nd Phone", MUJI playing cards and dominos are designed by Sam Hecht of Industrial Facility and a teapot/crockery set designed by the Azumis.^[22]

Muji participates in design colaborations with other companies. In 2001 Muji and Nissan Motors produce the Muji Car 1000. This fuel efficient, low-emission and low-cost limited edition, aimed to incorporate recycled materials wherever possible and had limited polish. Following Muji's no-brand strategy the car had no logos. ^[23]

The firts art director of Muji was Ikko Tanaka. In 2001 Kenya Hara, an internationally recognized graphic designer and curator, took over. He stated that:

"I found that the company was at a standstill with the original idea, 'No design', which was advocated at its inception. They also had more than 250 outlets and sold more than 5,000 items, including products that deviated from the initial Muji concept or were low cost, but of substandard quality."^[24]

Sam Hecht, Creative Director of Muji Europe, is quoted as saying "The human is not the centre of everything, but on the same level of everything."^[25]

In 2005 Muji was awarded five gold product design awards by the International Forum Design in Germany.^[26]

In 2006 Muji held its first international design competition, “MUJI AWARD 01”.^[27] In 2007 Chen Jiaojiao published a book on Muji design and brand entitled "Brands A-Z: Muji"