The Art of Chindogu: Useful but Useless

What is Chindogu?

From the words chin meaning “curious” or “strange” and dogu which means “tool” or “device”, a Chindogu is something that was made to be neither useful nor useless. It usually addresses a very specific everyday problem, but does so in a very unconventional way. They are obviously useless, yet they evidently still serve a purpose.

 

Why does Chindogu exist?

Most of the time, creators are asked to make something useful and sustainable to eventually be reproduced for public use. However, Chindogu creator Kenji Kawakami started making “un-useless” inventions to combat materialism and the turning of inventions into a commodity. The beauty of a having Chindogu inventions is that it exists for the purpose of stimulating creativity and imagination without thinking of profit.

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References:

Hall-Geiser, Kristen. “Chindogu: The Art of Un-useless Inventions.” How Stuff Works. December 31, 2018. Accessed January 27, 2019. https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/cultural-traditions/chindogu-art-un-useless-inventions.htm.

Richey, Michael. “CHINDOGU: THE UNUSELESS INVENTIONS OF KENJI KAWAKAMI.” Tofugu. March 14, 2016. Accessed January 27, 2019. https://www.tofugu.com/japan/chindogu-japanese-inventions/.