I always talk about understanding art from your feelings, not knowing what the artist meant to say, but what it makes you feel first

it's important to learn afterwards, especially when there is an important message behind it but first, I believe you have to have a personal connection and no, it's not a test, you're not supposed to get the answers right or feel stupid because you didn't "get it". I think that is the beauty

Some people believe that design is about esthetics and practicality, for me, if I don't fall in love with something, whether it is a piece of clothing, furniture, food and so on, it is just not working

And I fell in love when I saw the balloon bench, and then I saw all the other projects by h220430 and I fell even more in love

it felt like I can be a grown up and still have my fairy tale with me at all time, it brought me back to feelings that most of us lose as we grow old, the need to touch, to explore, to bite, to have fun with the most simple things in life

When I started reading what h220430 say about their work I felt a bit superficial, they have a really strong message and beliefs about the world and where it is going, in their words

We wanted to design not just primary shape of the things but secondary communication deriving from the messages in the things. We hope our works will produce communication and provide an opportunity for people to rethink and act against many difficult problems such as deterioration of the global environment and continuous conflicts all over the world.

So for the first time in my life I felt like "I got it wrong" and I finally understood what those people who complain about "not understanding" feel

But then I started reading about the balloon bench and that it was inspired by the French movie "Le Balloon Rouge" – a beautiful movie about a little boy in the streets of Paris chasing his red balloon and I finally "got it" – we usually make fun of people who believe they can change the world, we call them naïve because they are not cynical, they believe in good and the power of the people and lets face it, they are the ones that make a difference at the end of the day

So even if I got it wrong, we all look at things through our inner child's eyes,  h220430 just looks beyond the tiny personal world and believe they can change it

I believe them

I really recommend diving into their web site and reading on each project, it is enlighting

http://www.h220430.jp/