Reasons to go to museums
~The museum shop is the intersection of smiles and desires! ? ~

What is your reason for going to museums?
There's something I want to know, there's a work I want to see, and the exhibition looks interesting...
To commemorate your trip or to learn with your child, drop by...
There are many things.
Isn't one of the reasons "I want to go shopping"?
(do not have?)···
No no, I'm sure you'll think about it from now on.
I met a book and a person who made me believe so.

"The Power of Museum Goods" and Natsumi Osawa

A book called "The Power of Museum Goods" published in 2021. Among them, I often saw that "museum goods" are not just products, but "part of the exhibition" of the museum.
Through interviews with people involved in the creation of museum goods, the author, Natsumi Osawa, carefully conveys how the museum expresses the "feelings" that the museum wants to convey to visitors, and what kind of people can enjoy what kind of people. will give you It made me realize that museum goods are, in a sense, an alter ego of the museum.
Isn't this exactly the same as creating an exhibition?
I couldn't stand still, so I contacted Mr. Osawa for an interview.

"The Power of Museum Goods" and Natsumi Osawa

While studying design and museum management theory at university, Natsumi Osawa has researched "museum goods" and is also active as a museum goods enthusiast. Visit museums all over the country and collect more than 1000 items! Little press specializing in museum goods and events are also held.
The role of museum goods is positioned as "activities" and "experiences" to expand the museum's mission of collecting, preserving, researching, and exhibiting materials, and communicating the significance of these activities is at the core of our activities.

Mr. Osawa, who kindly agreed to be interviewed. It was an exciting time that also led to unraveling the power of the place called the museum. What are the goods that move the hearts of everyone involved in museums, manufacturing, and kotozukuri? What is a shop? I would like to focus on three points.

Question 1) Mr. Osawa, why are you attracted to museum goods?

Mr. Osawa
Museum goods are inherently filled with the individuality of the museum. Curators, researchers, shop operators, local shops and government officials, etc., made things with passion and affection that can only be found in that area and place.
for example···

An original magnet badge from the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. You can wear beautiful decorations inside the hotel.

Fukukaburi cat at the Fukuoka Art Museum. The cats in the collection have jumped out! "I can't stand cat lovers."

Above all, museum goods are also a "media" that conveys the museum's activities. The museum's mission is expressed in the goods, and at the same time, they must be purchased, so they must be catchy, easy-to-understand, and acceptable. I find it interesting to explore academism and economic activity and their exquisite arrangements.

Question 2) What kind of space and place would you like the museum shop to be?

Mr. Osawa
This is an interview with Mr. Tomiyuki Takenaka, director of Komakinokan, a Jomon school in Aomori Prefecture. While experiencing the museum, visitors sometimes look difficult and are busy thinking, but they are sure to smile when they visit the shop at the end of the experience. This is because museum shop staff do not sell products and serve customers, unlike general shops. Therefore, the museum goods themselves capture the hearts of customers who come out with a difficult face and make them chuckle. Sometimes it should have the power to open a new door. It was said that the goods themselves would appeal their own value.

This story also resonated with me. I think that the shop space should be a place where the goods themselves are "exhibited" while being connected to the exhibition space of the museum, and a place where the concept of the museum is embodied.

* Details will be published in the next book. I'm looking forward to it.

Question 3) What are the possibilities of museum goods?

Mr. Osawa
The other day, we held a workshop event at the Chiba City Museum of Art called "Let's plan museum goods for middle and high school students!"

Workshop at the Chiba City Museum of Art

The participating junior and senior high school students have their own preferences, such as a certain art piece, the architecture of the museum, or a design lover. Various), each enjoyed and worked on the project. Museum goods not only have potential as products, but can also be used as materials for communication that connect museums and people, such as museum education, public relations activities, and branding. Finally, I want you to come to the museum! I would like to help create opportunities for visitors to visit, aiming to expand the range of museum activities as one of the pillars.

* Mr. Osawa is currently writing his next book. I'm really looking forward to seeing new aspects of various museums that I haven't seen yet.

At the end

No matter what you do, you can't take home the museum exhibits that we create.
On the other hand, the act of buying museum goods can be said to be the act of acquiring the "exhibition (≒treasure)" of the museum.
You can even share the only treasure here with the people around you and your future descendants.

Shopping at the museum.

Doesn't this look like a very exciting and extravagant act?
One more reason to go to the museum.