Osaka Do

Project at the Royal College of Art. Featured in the Forbes Magazine.

Being a natural earthquake zone and having typhoon season every year Japan faces a constant cycle of destruction and reinvention. 
In this environment a cultural mindset has thrived that values decay, long term experiences, aging and imperfection. One of these principles of beauty is called Wabi Sabi.
But as we now live in a throw-away-society things that age lose value. Usually a taxi is in service for more than 20 years. In this time the taxis help thousands of people on their journeys. They gain a patina, their seats erode and their daily journeys lose meaning in endless cycles of repetition. They are vehicles that carry our stories and journeys but lose value with every mile they drive.
But aren’t these years of experience what should make the taxi richer? 
And is there a way how Osaka can reconnect with its history?
Coming from a background of User Experience and coding, I designed a taxi service for Osaka that is heavily UX based. The Osaka Do, which means the pathway of Osaka.
The Osaka Do captures each journey and turns it into a light painting on the morphing pattern in the interior in real time. Each journey shapes the AI in the taxi, as it becomes richer with every journey.
All the digital footprints create a mosaic of the Osaka AI. A new interpretation of Wabi Sabi and a story added to the history of Osaka. Your experience is saved in your journey library where you can revisit it anytime you want to. 

Read the Forbes article by Nargess Banks about the project