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PRODUCTS 2024.02.23
ADA NEW MATERIALS “KUMU”- A sublime time to get immersed –
Making is fun. One’s heart dances with excitement when building one’s envisioned image within a limited space. The time spent creating one’s very own world, down to the last details, is sublime. Enjoy craft life again and stoke your creative appetite with KUMU, the new ADA decorative materials series to debut this Spring.
Examples of KUMU combinations
A new product project called “decorative materials”
Daisuke Inoue, development manager of the new decorative materials series KUMU, tells us about KUMU’s appeal and takes us behind-the-scenes on it’s development.
Daisuke Inoue, development manager of the new decorative materials series KUMU, tells us about KUMU’s appeal and takes us behind-the-scenes on it’s development.
AJ：Please tell us what led to developing the KUMU series.
Inoue：The impetus came when I was doing a layout in a small tank and thinking “I want to create incredible layouts regardless of the tank size”. As a Suikei creator, I get many chances to do layouts in large tanks (W1200mm, W1800mm, etc), but when doing a small layout I don’t think “because it’s a small tank I will make it simple”; rather, still taking my time and still fretting over the composition, the process doesn’t change.
AJ：So the impetus actually came from your own layout experience.
Inoue：Yes. From there we refined the idea into that of a decorative materials series that lets you experience choosing, matching together and creating as you please. We want people to feel the romance of creating a world using natural materials born of this earth, and the fun of making a Nature Aquarium or Paludarium scene without worrying about layout styles or tank size.
AJ：It debuted at an event held late last year, right? I think many people may have noticed the various types of material neatly arranged.
Inoue：The KUMU display was inspired by a playmobil marketstand I liked as a kid. Recently I’ve started getting into playmobil again, the playmobil stand with tools and paints for sale is fun even as an adult! We emulated that excitement and, splitting the dozens of collected materials into different categories, used a notation of letters and numbers to make it easy to understand. Driftwood was listed WO-01～, stones as ST-01～, gravel as GR-01～ and sand as SA-01～. As there was enough to be able to try combinations little by little, people enjoyed even the choosing of different materials, which was pleasing to see.
AJ：The packaging construction also makes the most of your thoughts and experience. I felt it was something that users will find easy to handle and want to try.
Inoue：I think being easy to handle is a merit not seen in ADA products until now. To achieve that took considerable fastidiousness, even over the packaging. The packaging staff must hate me (smiles). In the early planning stage I showed small samples of materials to ADA staff in each department. However, because of moving them around or having so many people wanting to touch them, the samples got chafed and dirty. With wrapping like this the same thing would happen to the users and people would give it one glance and think it’s dirty. To prevent that happening, after a lot of cycles of trial and error, we came up with packaging that lets the materials be seen, is easy to handle and looks clean. The gravel and sand is vacuum packed and the stone is shrink-wrapped.
Inoue：The impetus came when I was doing a layout in a small tank and thinking “I want to create incredible layouts regardless of the tank size”. As a Suikei creator, I get many chances to do layouts in large tanks (W1200mm, W1800mm, etc), but when doing a small layout I don’t think “because it’s a small tank I will make it simple”; rather, still taking my time and still fretting over the composition, the process doesn’t change.
AJ：So the impetus actually came from your own layout experience.
Inoue：Yes. From there we refined the idea into that of a decorative materials series that lets you experience choosing, matching together and creating as you please. We want people to feel the romance of creating a world using natural materials born of this earth, and the fun of making a Nature Aquarium or Paludarium scene without worrying about layout styles or tank size.
AJ：It debuted at an event held late last year, right? I think many people may have noticed the various types of material neatly arranged.
Inoue：The KUMU display was inspired by a playmobil marketstand I liked as a kid. Recently I’ve started getting into playmobil again, the playmobil stand with tools and paints for sale is fun even as an adult! We emulated that excitement and, splitting the dozens of collected materials into different categories, used a notation of letters and numbers to make it easy to understand. Driftwood was listed WO-01～, stones as ST-01～, gravel as GR-01～ and sand as SA-01～. As there was enough to be able to try combinations little by little, people enjoyed even the choosing of different materials, which was pleasing to see.
AJ：The packaging construction also makes the most of your thoughts and experience. I felt it was something that users will find easy to handle and want to try.
Inoue：I think being easy to handle is a merit not seen in ADA products until now. To achieve that took considerable fastidiousness, even over the packaging. The packaging staff must hate me (smiles). In the early planning stage I showed small samples of materials to ADA staff in each department. However, because of moving them around or having so many people wanting to touch them, the samples got chafed and dirty. With wrapping like this the same thing would happen to the users and people would give it one glance and think it’s dirty. To prevent that happening, after a lot of cycles of trial and error, we came up with packaging that lets the materials be seen, is easy to handle and looks clean. The gravel and sand is vacuum packed and the stone is shrink-wrapped.
AJ：Finally, please tell us about the final production stages of KUMU.
Inoue：Even to me, the number of ways to enjoy combining KUMU is still unknown. First, in order to convey the KUMU worldview and as a further expression of my fastidiousness, I hope to enjoy the product as a user! Eventually we would like to publish a collection of know-how, even something like a “KUMU magazine”, so I think you can expect developments there.
Inoue：Even to me, the number of ways to enjoy combining KUMU is still unknown. First, in order to convey the KUMU worldview and as a further expression of my fastidiousness, I hope to enjoy the product as a user! Eventually we would like to publish a collection of know-how, even something like a “KUMU magazine”, so I think you can expect developments there.
KUMU specialised store display fixture. The materials are of many colors and shapes but this categorised arrangement allows easy purveyance. Made for seeing the material types and taking them in your hand easily. We also hope for you to enjoy spending time imagining combinations as you browse.
