Dougu-Bako
Designing for Care and Maintenance in Creative Practice
Dougu Bako is a co-designed toolbox developed across London and Kyoto to encourage care, maintenance, and organisation within creative practice. Designed with ceramics students, the project integrates cleaning tools alongside making tools, transforming tidying from an afterthought into an intentional part of the creative workflow.
Dougu Bako, meaning "toolbox" in Japanese, is a collaborative design project developed across London and Kyoto that explored how product design can cultivate habits of care and maintenance within creative practice.
Working with ceramics students, the project investigated how tools are used, stored, and cared for throughout the making process. Through observation, user interviews, prototyping, and testing, the team discovered that cleaning and maintenance were often treated as separate activities despite being essential to studio practice.
In response, the team developed a customisable toolbox that placed cleaning supplies alongside working tools, encouraging users to view maintenance as an integral part of making. Features included adaptable storage compartments, a detachable handle, symbolic visual cues reflecting the creative process, and personalised elements that strengthened the relationship between the user and their tools.
The project explored how design can shape everyday behaviours, demonstrating that care for tools, materials, and workspaces is not separate from creativity but fundamental to sustaining it.
Role: Researcher • Co-Designer • Maker
Methods: User Research • Observation • Co-Design • Prototyping • User Testing • Product Design
Themes: Care • Maintenance • Creative Practice • Craft • Behaviour Change • Product Design
Outputs: Functional Prototype • User Research • Design Documentation
Locations: London & Kyoto
Year: 2023
This is collaborative project by Chaahat Thakker, Kai Kishita and Winifred Ahupa