The Satisfaction of Creating Things that People Will Take Care of, and His Fulfilling Work in Hamamatsu, the City of Music

The Satisfaction of Creating Things that People Will Take Care of, and His Fulfilling Work in Hamamatsu, the City of Music

 “I love to create things that will be important to people. I love my work.” Mr. Plattard is involved with the production of musical instruments, and as such, the sounds that they produce. You could say that he brings music to life and shares that with everyone.

It all started at the Hamamatsu headquarters of Yamaha Corporation, the musical instrument manufacturing company. Mr. Plattard spent over 7 years working at the design departments of Yamaha Musical Instruments. He has lived through globally turbulent time like the 2008 recession here in Japan. “There were already 3 or 4 foreigners working at the department in Yamaha when I was there. Generally, they had contracts for about 4 years. I think the goal was to bring in new blood regularly to keep ideas fresh. But I was a bit of a rare case because of the needs at that time and various other reasons. I worked there for a long time. Their work is exceptional and respectable. I like their style of doing business where they take time to deliberate and understand something, it suited me.” Hamamatsu is so far from his home country. When he started living here, Mr. Plattard had no connections at all to the people and the land, but now, together with his wife and daughter, he has carved out a comfortable life for themselves as the representative of a design studio.

Discovering the Wonders of Design in Childhood, and the Ideals of Design that He Keeps Close to His Heart

Mr. Plattard was born in a suburban town in Beaujolais province in France nearby Lyon, a big metropolis of stimulating culture like business, food and film. It is a cozy and quiet country town.

He loved the Meccano toys that you build yourself when he was a child. The ones with the picture of the toy completely put together on the front of the package like a sports car and motorcycle running at incredible speed. However, the ones that Mr. Plattard put together always looked different from the picture on the package. His family asked him “Why don’t you follow the design?” but the young Yves didn’t pay them any attention. “I wanted to make it my way at the time. It was more fun that way.”

 “One day, I want to design vehicles…” He had a dream for the future. However, it seemed like his father was worried about his aspiration. In high school, he specialized in engineering, and then he majored in industrial engineering and universal design in university. “It was a good way to alleviate my father’s worries and I felt that the field of engineering definitely had connection to design work.”

A Sense of Discomfort during Busy Days, and Discovering His Own Style of Work

After graduation, Mr. Plattard found work as an intern at a design studio in Paris. It was a small studio with only 6-8 people, but they had clients from famous brands like Peugeot and Tag Heuer that are popular all around the world, and were also involved with the designs of a wide range of electronics and furniture. Mr. Plattard reminisced about the 5 years that he worked there and said; “Those were days of extreme pressure. There was no time to properly think about the designs.” The 2000s were a transition period for the field of design as well, most of the analog work that they were doing was now digitalized, and it seems like many people quit.

It was during one of those days that a friend from Scotland invited him; “Come over here. It’s nice over here.” Mr. Plattard who was fed up with this busy lifestyle made up his mind to leave Paris. He traveled around the U.K while attending interviews and eventually decided to transfer to a design studio in Newcastle. This design studio also handled the design of a wide range of products like tools and baby goods like his previous workplace in Paris, but the biggest difference he felt was in the practicality of the designs and their connection to people. He was satisfied with his new work. Unfortunately, he resigned from his post at this studio due to economic instability, and it was at this time that he found a recruitment ad from the design department of Yamaha Musical Instruments.

Japan Wouldn’t Be Japan without Its Quirks, and a New Style of Service with a French Twist

 “I couldn’t speak Japanese at all. However, that didn’t matter because I felt that the work at Yamaha was worth doing. I already had experience moving to a country where I knew no one when I moved to the UK, so that wasn’t a problem.” Japan is so different from France, from the way we do business to the food culture. “C’est la vie” says Mr. Plattard. He explained that Japan is a conservative country and “if that were to change, then it wouldn’t be Japan anymore. It is the same with the other differences, accepting the differences, and enjoying a different lifestyle is part of the experience. I like it”. He adds “I feel that there are many Japanese people who are friendly to French people. I am fortunate that the other French people who came before me built that good reputation.”  “I want to get more work involving Hamamatsu” says Mr. Plattard. He is full of motivation. He is thinking of growing his company “IBUMARI” and hiring Japanese designers. His current goal is to fuse the best elements of Japan and France, and provide a new type of service.