The Campaign

We came up with the concept of "USEUM": a place where you USE things on display not LOOK at them like in a regular museum. All Arita porcelain works were there for people to touch and use, and most importantly in a contemporary way. This was very new because usually this kind of porcelain is locked behind a glass window in a store that is hard to enter. But you can’t tell the true value of plate ware until you enjoy a meal in it, so we created special brunch, lunch and café menus perfect for each plate ware each created by one of 3 Arita’s living legend masters or “Sanaemon”. People were able not only to look at the porcelain but touch, feel, smell, taste and try it out as plate ware at USEUM.

Creative Execution

USEUM was located in a green house, to unite soil, agriculture, and nature, which connect porcelain and food. There were several zones inside the USEUM besides dining using the works of masters: a zone for drinking tea or alcohol in Arita porcelain, a zone where you could arrange a bouquet in an Arita porcelain vase, use porcelain as a lamp shade, decorate a room with it, use it as a toy to play, or how to chose a gift fit of modern lifestyle etc. Furniture in USEUM was made using a special local technique called “Hanchiku”, from metal dug form “Izumiyama”, the same mountain where rocks for Arita porcelain come from today and 400 years ago. People were able to take the menu home, which introduces both the dishes and other experiences together with porcelain works best matching for it, to remind them of their Arita porcelain experience at USEUM.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

Within 4 month, 14893 people visited USEUM, this is a lot for a small town of Arita. Tables to try out special menu with Arita porcelain were constantly heavily booked by people all over Japan, and the exhibition was extended by a month. We received media coverage from regional TV stations as well as 37 print and 212 digital media. We believe that the concept of USEUM could be applied to numerous industries working with high quality traditional goods, most of which are currently struggling with the same issues as Arita.

In commemoration of 400th years of Arita porcelain, 17 projects began to rebrand Arita porcelain. As a compilation of these projects to spread value of Arita porcelain to all over Japan, we designed the USEUM ARITA. By special experience eating supreme meals with premium vessels, we aimed big exposure of public relations, acquisition of interest from many people, and value-up of Arita porcelain.