Computer technology used for 3D designs

TOYOOKA, Hyogo--Keiichiro Yuri, 46, a Toyooka native who recently began manufacturing bags, earned his hometown a bit of recognition earlier this year by applying computer technology to bag design. The "New Dalles" bag, produced by his company, Art here, was given the prestigious if Product Design Award, hosted by the International Forum Design Hannover in Germany. The product is the first Japanese bag to win the award. Yuri works with local craftspeople separately from the local bag association.

The streamlined bag has a purselike, 180-degree opening, and it can also function as a backpack. It measures 38.5 centimeters high, 32 centimeters wide and 9.5 centimeters thick, and weighs only 1.1 kilograms. Despite its elegant slimness, it has the capacity and elasticity to hold three 1.5-liter plastic bottles without losing its shape. "I'm particular even down to the angles of the metal fittings so that the bags look sophisticated," Yuri said.

He learned marketing and distribution working at a trading company in Tokyo, and then he operated a computer graphics production firm there until he returned to Toyooka in 2005. "There are many appealing products still being developed--cars, buildings and clothing...but not bags. As always, they're rectangular and designed with traditional two-dimensional paper patterns," he said. "It's no fun. So I've applied a three-dimensional method using a computer to give my products attractive curves. I make numerous trials in computer simulations while talking to craftspeople.

The bag, which comes in red, yellow, black and navy, sells for 47,250 yen at Takashimaya department stores in Osaka and Tokyo as well as at Yuri's own stylishly spartan shop on the Caban (Bag) Street in Toyooka. "Good products with good designs won't sell without proper distribution," Yuri said. "I'll meet people in other places to create new business possibilities and continue producing bags in Toyooka."