TokyoFlash Japan

The crazier, the better

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TokyoFlash was established in 2000 in Tokyo, as the name suggests, and since then has grown into a world leader for the design and sales of unique watches for lovers of japanese wristwears that they cannot get from anywhere else.

Over the past several years, TokyoFlash has experienced great success with the promotion of its products which are featured in many world famous magazines, newspapers, television shows and top technology blogs, as well as such shopping venues as the Museum of modern art (MoMA) New York and colette France.

"We started designing unique watches for fun, but after my first design we became know in the media very quickly,” said Brent Car, founder and CEO of TokyoFlash. “Then we started to do more and more designs each getting attention in the media and movie and music industry."

“Our company is still small but I like it that way,” Car said. “In fact we are turning down opportunities as I am not interested in ever going mainstrem. I like the size of our company. It’s like a boat, you always want a bigger one but once you have that big boat you miss all the simplicities of that smaller boat you had. Business is the same for me. Get too big and you lose the creativity."

The TokyoFlash design philosophy

TokyoFlash’s design philosophy is to create watches that are unique and fashionable. TokyoFlash designers have great fun working together on wild projects. Their way of thinking is "the crazier, the better".

“At first it was mostly just the idea,” Car explained. “Now, as we are progressing, we are understanding how important product design is to reflect on sales".

Taking advantage of solidThinking's capabilities, we can play around in total freedom,” Car said. “For example, changing the radius to see how it blends into a strap, or adding a curve to flat glass, or a bevel. Then playing around with materials in the rendering process makes you think of applying a material where you never would traditionally.

With solidThinking we can visualize ideas as they flow, then discuss and refine or add details to make the best possible product to sell. We basically can understand how well a product will sell before we even start to make it.”

"One of the first things we used solidThinking for was our brochure which we gave out at the 100% Design Show in Tokyo where we won first place for best design." Car added.

The TokyoFlash blog

TokyoFlash designers use the company blog to interact with their market audiences by showcasing new concept designs from the early ideation phase. Some of these products will be introduced in the market, others not. Comments, opinions and ideas from blog readers are noted and taken into consideration in the product development process. The most interesting concept designs will then go into production.

solidThinking contributed to this new approach to market by allowing TokyoFlash designers to develop and present new ideas very quickly.

“My staff can develop an idea and render it in solidThinking within a day,” Car explained. “With that we can already start testing the market through our blog and sending selected projects to the maker to get started while we work on further details.”

The concept for one of TokyoFlash’s latest pro- ducts, the Escape C Bluetooth fashion accessory, was first presented in the TokyoFlash blog using photorealistic renderings made with solidThinking. Feedback from readers helped to develop it. The Escape C recently won the Best Design award at the 100% Design Tokyo event.

Car concluded: “It’s hard to put a value on this software as without it we would not be where we are, so it's priceless to us."

TokyoFlash Japan Pte Ltd.
Koshi Ichi Building 505, Jinguamae 6-19-16
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-001, Japan
www.tokyoflash.com

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