ICSID - Kyoto 1974

Design Australia has long been an important reference journal for my research. My recent visit to the shelves of Monash University library provided another opportunity to scan the issues and I was delighted to recognise for the first time a young John Westwood on the cover of the January 1974 issue. John was my lecturer at RMIT University industrial design and gave me my first job at John Westwood Design Associates.

Victorian industrial designer John Westwood in Kyoto, Japan, 1974.

The article in Design Australia Issue 23 features the experiences of sponsored industrial design students from Victoria, John Westwood - Gordon Institute, Ross Whitehead - RMIT, and others during their visit to Kyoto for the ICSID conference.

Design Australia journal, Issue 23 January 1974.
ICSID Kyoto

This extract below from the ICSID website outlines the significance of Kyoto and also explains why John is pictured in the streets of Kyoto on a bicycle.

In 1973, international collaboration reached a new high for Icsid with the Kyoto Congress and General Assembly, hosted by the Japan Industrial Designers’ Association. The event, based on the theme ‘Soul and Material Things’, was revolutionary for Icsid as it brought the western and Asian design worlds together for the first time on Asian soil. One of the more innovative elements of the congress was the involvement of the city and community of Kyoto. The organisers implemented a programme where 1000 bicycles were provided for use by participants to commute from the hotels to the congress Hall and to discover for themselves the way of life of the Japanese people. From this time onwards, Icsid’s place as a worldwide voice for industrial design was solidified.


http://www.icsid.org/about/about/articles33.htm