Designboom posts a huge round-up of images and products from this year’s edition of DesignTide. Above, Hironao Tsuboi‘s “Sun” sensible time clock.

“Sun” is purposefully minimal except for a small colorful dot — a day begins with sunrise, it ends with sundown. Sunset and sunrise times are dependent on your exact latitude, and longitude coordinates.

Here’s a video of Yuki Yamamoto‘s Spica, a speaker that uses water and light to give you quite the show as you listen to your favorite tracks. It was on show at this year’s DesignTide, and I can confirm that it looked just as good in person as it does in the video. Via Designboom.

Didn’t get to attend last week’s DesignTide? Dezeen posts a few photos of this year’s space design, which was again by Hiroshima-based architect Makoto Tanijiri (Suppose Design Office). I don’t think the photos quite capture how well it worked though — most of the time, when in a booth, you couldn’t really see what was in the nearby booths, which encouraged exploration (versus quick scanning).

During last week’s DesignTide, Mile introduced their new Trio stool, which can also double as a small table. Via Designboom.

While checking out DesignTide yesterday, I quite enjoyed the booth for the AWA brand — that’s the collaboration between Nosigner and the Tokushima Wood & Bamboo Industrial Cooperative Society Confederation — with some new pieces on show, including the Cartesia drawers (above) and the Unit set (below).

• Yes, it’s that time of the year again, Tokyo Design Week is just around the corner, this year kicking off on a Friday instead of the traditional Wednesday, running October 30 to November 3. Best way to find out about everything that’s going on is to pick up the guides to the events — they should be popping up around town soon — and of course to check out the official event websites: DesignTide, 100% Design Tokyo, Tokyo Designers Week, Swedish Style, and Design Touch.
• So instead of “Happening in Tokyo” event posts, time to start some “Happening in TDW” ones. I still don’t know how much I’ll be able to take in because of my back (it’s much better, if still painful at times), but I’m still going to try and sample as much as I can.
• Currently I’m most looking forward to the DesignTide opening party on Friday night (although I believe it’s not a public event). It’s always a good opportunity to get a first glimpse at everything, and chat up the attendees.
• More of a pre-TDW event, this month’s PechaKucha Night in Tokyo (Vol. 66) happens this Wednesday (October 28), and it will of course have a TDW flavor to it. This will also be the first PKN I attend in quite a few months, so happy to be able to join up with team PKN again.
• Berlin’s DMY will be participating at DesignTide, with products and prototypes from 14 Berlin-based designers.
• Designboom presents Hermès Paris: “A design adventure from high-quality bags to helicopters and yachts, an online graphic competition for the upcoming tie collection and the world preview in Tokyo of new high-tech suitcases. A presentation of the most recent development inside the Hermès design department, and a Q&A with design director of Hermès Gabriele Pezzini conducted by Birgit Lohmann (Designboom).” It happens at the design conference/forum space at the 100% Design Tokyo venue in Jingu Gaien on October 31 (12:00-13:00).
• And of course, don’t miss the Designboom Mart, again a part of 100% Design Tokyo.