The other day, I was given a chance to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris. It was my second visit there and the first in about 20 years. Looking closely after a long interval at its three outstanding works—the Mona Lisa, the Nike of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo—gave me a deep impression. But more than that, I was moved by a series of works from the ancient Egyptian civilization, which I missed out on my first visit.

As I carefully watched hieroglyphs and pictures engraved on plates, scenes of ancient people devoting tremendous time and efforts came to my mind, evoking a sense of romanticism toward the human heritage that has continued to exist over thousands of years. At the same time, I also remembered the admiration for archeology I felt while watching history programs on TV in my childhood. Unfortunately, what I experienced in my mind failed to find an echo in other people. I tried to understand why and came up with the following formula.

My moving experience at the museum = [Historical background (ancient time) + Distance (rare opportunity to visit) + Experiences in my life (catalyst for forming images of ancient people at work) + Design (means to express beauty) + Timing (unexpected encounter)] × Memories (adoration as a child)

As I traced my memory, I came to realize that I had felt similar feelings when I saw magnificent works such as the Native American art in the Valley of Fire, the Sagrada Familia, the Prambanan Temple Compounds and the Cologne Cathedral.

Presumably, I’m the kind of person who tends to admire magnificent historical objects with unique atmosphere. Now I can understand why I used to enjoy watching history-related TV programs like “Sekai Fushigi Hakken (Discovery of the World’s Mysteries)” and “Tokugawa Maizoukin Densetsu (Tokugawa Shogunate’s Buried Treasure).”

Norio Katahira
CMFGt Design Dept.
Design Director