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Published on August 21, 2007

What should you use to fill emptiness? Kino - function - says Tadamitsu Matsui, president of the Japanese firm Ryuhin Kekaku, which makes the popular Muji lifestyle products.

Muji itself means "empty" or "nothing", Matsui tells The Nation in an exclusive interview. The Japanese term has become well known in 14 countries where some 7,000 Muji items are on sale, including in Thailand, where the firm opened its first store at Central Chidlom in Bangkok late last year.

The product line runs the gamut from home ware, underwear and green tea to motorcycles and houses.

If it's true that "less is more", Muji's are the must-have products. The colours and forms of nature inspire their designs and, as Matsui likes to point out, there is a reassuring continuity in nature.

"If we compare Muji to Japanese art, it has the quality of muhen, meaning 'unchanging'," he says. "It's something that will never die, unlike fashion, which comes and goes.

"Muji colours are very natural, not artificial - the brown of the earth, red of the sunset and blue of the ocean. We once tried to use pink but our customers said, 'This isn't Muji!'"

Asked about his work principles, Matsui, 58, says working is like walking.

"In life there are always two pathways: direct and indirect. Likewise, in business. If you take the indirect route, the selection of materials or the design process may take longer, and most people think the indirect route is too slow to achieve success - but it can be the more stable path too."

Some companies, he explains, choose the direct route and outsource work to other manufacturers, but the speed of the process will usually affect the outcome.

The indirect route - taking the time to develop and improve design, manufacture and distribution in one place - is more effective in terms of speed and costs.

"Just don't trust the shorter route," Matsui advises.

"Our company has almost 5,000 employees now, and it's very important not to create differences among them. We don't point to any one employee when something good or bad happens, but give credit or blame to the overall structure.

"We emphasise the system in every process - every employee and division is a cog in the structure. The secret is that we find the strong points of an individual and train him to become an expert in a specific field. Also, we have a manual for employees and store development, so everyone - from sales clerks to managers - knows what has to be done in any given situation."

The fruits of Muji's success derive from three principles, Matsui says: quality materials, efficient production and the simplicity of the packaging.

What about filling an empty space with function? Matsui offers as an example a tea cup and saucer: When separated, each still has a function - one still for drinking from, the other as a plate.

"What about the space between the cup and the saucer? How about placing a vase there?

"It's all in the way you look at it. A clock in a public park and a clock in a train station have the same function, and they can trade places. Nothing has to stay the same."

These days, people focus too much on the pointless and the unnecessary aspects of products, Matsui says, but if they look at the original need the product meets, it's very simple.

Muji's 400-square-metre shop on the third floor of Central Chidlom was an immediate success when it opened, outpacing sales expectations, and a second branch opened soon after at the Zen department store. Another five or six outlets are in the works for other Central malls.

Kupluthai Pungkanon

The Nation