The Nishikigoi colorway became an instant classic And although it was available in a range of colorways, the red, white, and blue 'Nishikigoi' scheme (named after a type of Japanese carp) you see here became an instant classic and one closely associated with the brand from then on out. The Infobar featured an extraordinary angular design where the multicolored buttons ran edge-to-edge and interlocked like a jigsaw puzzle. “Manufacturers, communications companies and consumers alike were predicting that, after an over-production of certain design styles that had lasted a number of years, the new standard for mobile phones would be the clamshell - and that there was no scope for doubt.”Īs a reaction against this homogeniety, Fukasawa created a candybar-style phone unlike any other. “I designed this mobile phone in 2000, the year in which the market for mobile phones expanded dramatically towards a situation where there would be one phone per person,” Fukasawa says in Phaidon’s excellent monograph on his work. Fukasawa conceived the first phone in the line, pictured above, as an intentional breakaway from the flip phones you probably associate with Japan in the 2000s. The Infobar line is the work of Naoto Fukasawa, one of the most famous and influential industrial designers in Japan he’s also behind the ☐ brand and several iconic Muji products like the wall-mounted CD player. But if you ask me, the distinction goes to various members of a unique and very Japanese line of phones that’s lasted well over a decade. Or the luxurious pillowy plastic of the Nokia N9. The starkly minimalist iPhone 4 would be a good shout for many.

I know the question of the most beautiful phone ever made is a deeply personal one.

Candybar phone