BUSINESS

Text and Photo: Mei Ogata

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BUSINESS

What we want to embody in "places of tomorrow" through new business

Three months have passed since we set out our purpose of "Create your places of tomorrow with the power of kasetsu," and the engine has been launched for a new B2C business centered on this raison d'être. We would like to deliver the process of causing a paradigm shift to a "new normal with light temporary equipment" as it is.

Text and Photo: Mei Ogata

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ASNOVA's Commitment

Our main business, Scaffolding Rental, is a circular business model that uses the same scaffolding equipment repeatedly. We are working with a sense of mission to contribute to an environmentally friendly society, and our staff carefully care for our equipment and manage it thoroughly so that the next customer can use it comfortably.

Scaffolding is also known as temporary equipment. As you can imagine from the letters, the equipment is temporarily used to serve its purpose and then removed. A construction site is an easy example to understand.

The wedge binding type scaffold rented by ASNOVA is used for construction

Making lightweight temporary construction equipment more accessible

Now, if you look indoors, there is what is called "light" temporary equipment. This is a size that can be carried by a person, and stepladders and stepladders are typical examples. The current situation is that temporary equipment used outdoors is rented, while light temporary equipment is "consumed", so in order to create a "To the places of tomorrow.", we are determined to change the environment surrounding such businesses.

Now, the light temporary equipment section of a home improvement store has not changed much for more than a few decades, but for example, stepladders and stepladders may not be the heavyweights of home centers, but may become as familiar as one of the furniture. The Scandinavian-designed stepladders and stepladders that I see at IKEA and furniture online shops are fashionable and cool, so I feel the potential of light temporary equipment because they are used as interiors without being put away.
 
If items like stepladders that are highly designed, that you want to keep in a visible place even when not in use, that look good in a Japanese-style room, that have a slightly luxurious feel, that are made of a combination of different materials, that you want to sit on or climb, are integrated into your daily life, a new normal for your life may be born. The role of light temporary equipment that you think of as furniture may be greater than you thought, such as changing the water in your Shinto altar that you were reluctant to do, the top shelf of your closet that tends to get messy, the bookshelf that you really wanted to decorate, a seat or storage space when you have guests, etc.

Legendary speech on environmental issues

This project is committed to producing ethical products rather than mass-produced and mass-consumed goods, and aims to deliver truly valuable products directly to end users.
 
There is a video that motivated me. It was a speech by a 14-year-old girl to a group of highly educated politicians about environmental issues, and it became a legendary speech. She said, "I am only a child, and I don't have all the solutions. But I want you to realize neither do you." "I don't know how to solve the problems, but I want you to realize neither do you." She continued with words that no one would want to hear. It was a speech that became a hot topic 30 years ago, but environmental issues have not changed at all in this long time, and in fact they have gotten worse.
 
The phrase that ASNOVA focused on this time is "No hidden agenda." In Japanese, it means "There is no hidden motive." The reason for focusing on this is simple: this project is not about pretense, but about valuing true feelings. True feelings are the true emotions and values that individuals and groups have. In other words, we create products that are environmentally friendly and that people today want, not products to make profits. We believe that only when people empathize with this can we generate profits and validate our value as a company.
 

This project is many times more difficult than it sounds. How do we materialize it?

We are working on a project with SMO, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as SMO) using a method of thinking called design thinking. Design thinking is a way of thinking that finds innovative solutions by understanding the potential needs of users and repeatedly verifying "hypotheses."
SMO, whose purpose is to "pass on the real thing to the future," is a reliable partner who has helped us formulate our purpose, enhancing the intrinsic value of the organization and brand and supporting us from concept to execution without wavering. (Related: What should ASNOVA do in the future society?) Purpose Leads scaffolding Industry's Tomorrow)
Quote from SMO: The process of clarifying the purpose of existence
SMO's headquarters are in CIC Tokyo, a shared office in the Toranomon Hills Business Tower in Tokyo. CIC Tokyo is known as a launch pad for innovation that connects the world, and is a place brimming with entrepreneurs working to find solutions to problems around the world. When I visited CIC Tokyo, I heard a lot of foreign languages and there was an air of innovation being generated from the companies, people, and facility designs.
In addition to the office area, there is an open workspace and a kitchen that users can use freely.
In the next issue, we plan to share with you the keywords that ASNOVA values, discoveries made during fieldwork, and refined concepts.

By repeating "hypothesis" and "supposition," we get closer to the final product one step at a time.
At ASNOVA, we call the act of taking advantage of these two types of cases and tackling them freely and lightly "Casetsu."

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