Born in 1956 in the Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan, Fukasawa graduated in 1980 in product design at the Tama Art University. He moved to America to work with Ideo in San Francisco for 8 years, and returned home as Director of Ideo Japan in 1996. In 2003 Fukasawa established the Naoto Fukasawa Design studio in Tokyo and subsequently opened his own retail outlets for his own design brand Plus Minus Zero that produces what he describes as mundane objects - calculators, fans and umbrellas. As well as his own collection, Fukasawa collaborates with international brands including Italian furniture groups B&B Italia and Driade, and the Japanese 'anti-brand' label Muji. Naoto travels widely to talk and exhibit work, collaborating with Jasper Morrison on the Super Normal exhibition and book in 2006.