Kanaisasaki is formed from in-house designers who have made a career out of staying curious

For most designers, the dream project is an identity for a company they love. Aki Kanai and Taku Sasaki, working together as Kanaisasaki, got to do it for the one that employs them. After 17 years at Kokuyo, the Japanese maker of stationery and office furniture, the pair announced a full redesign of its corporate identity at the end of last year. "We are very proud to have taken on this project ourselves," they say.

Both grew up in Tokyo; Sasaki studied product design at Tama Art University, and Kanai studied graphic design at Tokyo University of the Arts. They joined Kokuyo at the same time, started talking about design during their shifts, and eventually began collaborating as a team of two art directors. Their work for the company drew attention and, after both won the JAGDA New Designer Award, commissions started flooding in. They now split their time between Kokuyo and other clients, and they see that as a model in itself: "by maintaining an independent approach to our work despite being in-house designers, we've come to believe there may be new models for design organisations and career paths." As a manufacturer, Kokuyo also shapes what they make. "We're exploring forms of graphic design that people want to own – designs that become part of their daily lives – rather than advertisements meant to convey information in an instant."

Working across different fields, they're put in front of unfamiliar ideas regularly, and inspiration can come from many different corners. They "cherish those moments when we encounter things we didn't know before", and they make sure to pay attention to small discoveries in daily life, too, "being mindful not to overlook them".

After this, they get their heads down in the work. One of them starts something, and then both look at it together and chat. Then, the other refines it, and they swap files back and forth until it's done. "We place great importance on working together as a pair to step away from our individual perspectives and maintain objectivity." The number of handovers, of course, depends on the job. Tight deadlines mean more exchanges, and big, long projects mean many more. They also always have client and personal projects running side by side, because "the accumulated experience from both types of work positively influences each other".

The Kokuyo identity is an apt example of this. The logo is a bold black wordmark, which appears over diagonal blue stripes, repeated in a black-on-blue pattern and turned mint green. The same look is on the grey building's sign, on paper shopping bags in mint and pink, pale green and blue envelopes, a grid of business cards in different stripe colours, plus green, blue and black caps. The hand-shaped mug even wears the same pattern, showing how the designers have made a kit of some sort. "We are building a system that generates a wide range of designs based on simple yet flexible rules," they explain. "To ensure the visual identity keeps pace with – and at times even leads – the company's ongoing evolution, we are building a system that generates a wide range of designs based on simple yet flexible rules, utilising visual elements including the logo design."

In Ready Made+, the pair designed a project for Aki Project, a brand that works with Aji stone, which is commonly used for gravestones and building materials. The stone yields plenty of offcuts during manufacturing, and the pair designed graphics for each piece. On the posters for the November 2025 shows, stacks of these fragments balance together: a wedge of pale grey stones leans over a slab with a hole drilled through it, and a dark round ball sits above a block with a perfect circle cut out. "We conducted various experiments – not only to explore how the shape of each scrap piece and the grain of the stone differ from one another, but also to determine how best to integrate the raw, powerful energy of nature into our designs." They describe it as a project "that allowed us to engage purely with the act of design itself – one we would like to make our life's work."

Whatever the client, they aim for the same thing: "small moments of insight, joy and pleasure." They want design to "blend seamlessly into the daily lives of its time", whether on a luxury product, a public sign or a bag for everyday groceries. They also want a "warm approach to design that gently and quietly touches the hearts of those living in circumstances where the concept of 'design' may seem distant."