Here's a profile on designer Tokujin Yoshioka, Design Miami's Designer of the Year for 2008. (You may remember Yoshioka's name from his Media Skin cell phone design, which was recently inducted into the MoMA.) And unlike most profile pieces on Japanese designers, this one highlights Yoshioka's specific thoughts about business vis-a-vis design, rather than offering vague platitudes:

"Companies tend to repeat what has been successful in the past," he says. For a long time this meant that when "bad-looking things sold well," there was no incentive for them to spend money on design. Now, he says, there has been a palpable change in society: "The general public has a more developed sense of beauty."

"Now people in their 30s and 40s are really sensitive to design and have good taste," says Tokujin. "We've got to the point where people can no longer imagine a life without design."

via japan times