A dose of practical optimism from Kyoto

In the field of design, we look at everything as a whole. From type to colour to sound, our work is a sum of its parts.

To Martha Thorne, this applies not just to brand design, but the design of modern cities. As an architectural academic, she seeks to understand and discover new ideas about our built and natural environments.

When it comes to success, the key is time. ‘It's not just the next year or two…[we need to ask] what is this going to mean in another five years or ten years?’ Building to last is how to make something not just good for the economy, but also good for the people who live there and the tourists who pass through.

How can brands create a lasting impression that sets the standard for all other experiences? One way is through human involvement.

Reflecting on a visit to Kusama’s Pumpkin in Naoshima, Jacob reminds us that art is not just about aesthetics, but about our interaction. While the pumpkin alone is a striking image, it’s when viewers are confronted with the oversized gourd juxtaposed against the sea and a distant landscape that the experience becomes exceptional.

Andrew Stirk brought a distinctly personal point of view to the day’s events. Inspired by his mum’s wisdom of ‘attend to the small things in life,’ he described his move from leader to founder as a way of harnessing technology that provokes reflection before reaction.

Driven to explore life heightened by the power of usually missed moments, Andrew and his team at Reflective Works developed Monograph, an AI-assisted app that seeks to help people lead the life they want.

Through a desire to change something, they have made a product that aims to bring purpose and pause to time-stretched lives.

When the International Olympics Committee came to Kyoto, Reverend Daiko Matsuyama asked one of its board members if they knew the difference between Western archery and Japanese archery. They answered no.

If the goal of Western archery is to hit the target, in Japan, ‘if you happen to get the target, it’s nothing.’ Instead, the goal is to secure the headspace that enables you to meet the target.

From the right posture, right breathing and right form, Japanese archery is about the ‘elevation of the state of mind’—which for Rev. Matsuyama is the ‘basis of Japanese culture’.

Founder of one of the world’s best-known real estate platforms, Jesús Encinar talked us through history with parallels between Napoleon and Gandhi and modern business structures.

Among the stories of success and failure, Jesús referred to the Dunning-Kruger effect—believing you’re better at something than reality.

‘There is a high level of confidence when you start doing something. You immediately feel like you know it all. You immediately think: I dominate this matter. But the more you know…the more you realise how ignorant you were.’

He uses the analogy to explain how in the future, organisations will look back at our time and wonder how companies were being run in the same way as a post-industrial world.

In 2001, Art Basel Miami was cancelled. The post-9/11 landscape kept gallerists away, and the inaugural American arm of the then-European art fair was postponed. Instead, a series of smaller experiences ran, helped by ‘a very special energy of collaboration.’

Susanne Birbragher, Founder and President of Liaisons Corporation, has been closely involved in the art fair and has seen it develop since 2002. For her, the moment was ‘a seed that translated into the success of Art Basel Miami Beach,’ transforming the city into a destination for art and culture fans worldwide.

Because when people come together, and locals ‘open the doors’ to their homes, studios and temples, collaboration, communication and open-mindedness around the world can thrive.