SPREAD positions colour as a catalyst for joy and vitality at We Design Beirut 2025.

Much Peace, Love and Joy by Japanese creative unit SPREAD is an immersive installation born from a desire to evoke happiness through colour.

Presented at We Design Beirut 2025, the installation explores the emotional resonance of colour through two distinct configurations. One being a net installation where hand-torn shapes float freely in space, and the second a framed series in which colour appears to hover within defined boundaries.

SPREAD is a creative unit founded by Haruna Yamada and Hirokazu Kobayashi. The duo fuses their environmental approach of landscape design with their visual techniques in graphic design, incorporating memory and emotion into their work as they strive to “spread” ideas that expand the imagination.

Implementing special letterpress printing techniques, gradations of vivid colour are printed and then hand-torn to form unique organic shapes. Each configuration conveys a sense of lightness and movement - a metaphor for imagination, and interconnectedness, with colour as a catalyst for joy and vitality.

Each work invites personal interpretation, reflecting on individuality, imagination, and connection. It embodies SPREAD’s belief in the power of colour to spark joy, inspire empathy, and renew the human spirit.

“While each element is carefully composed, the meaning is left entirely to the viewer,” the designers put forward. “People see and feel differently, shaped by their own experiences and memories. It is these differences that make us beautiful and give us the imagination to understand one another. And within this shared experience, there is a quiet joy that emerges when we encounter colour.”

“Colour itself is inherently beautiful,” SPREAD notes. “Everyone has colours they are drawn to. One of the many hues in this work will resonate with a person’s individual sensibilities, connecting their imagination to a surrounding spectrum of colour. As people engage with the work, they embark on a journey through their own memories and emotions.”

Much Peace, Love and Joy embodies SPREAD’s vision to move society forward through the power of colour - bringing people together in a shared sense of peace, love and joy.

SPREAD's exploration of colour has been showcased internationally, including at Alcova - Milan, Ventura Centrale - Milan, Rappaz Museum - Basel, Embassy of Japan - Switzerland, Alcova Miami, Red Dot Design Museum - Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design, and Spiral - Tokyo.

Discover more about SPREAD's Much Peace, Love and Joy here