yocera Wireless Corp. wanted an exhibit as unique as its redesigned phones. So when it unveiled its wares at the 2007 Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) Wireless show, the high-tech company’s designer, Purepartner by Design, derived its inspiration from the ancient Japanese philosophy of in-yo.

“In-yo emphasizes harmonizing opposite forces,” said Ron Caruso, a partner at Purepartner. “So we balanced the booth between light and dark, and nature and technology.”

Upon entering, attendees stepped past dark scrim onto a brightly lit floor of black and white carpet and moved to the booth’s center, where a 25-foot-high aluminum trellis powder coated in Kyocera’s corporate red towered over the space. Based on Japanese tatami mats, the trellis can be reassembled in different shapes for future shows.

Beneath the trellis was the “product garden,” where visitors viewed products displayed in museum-like cases on top of acrylic cubes in Kyocera’s high-gloss corporate colors. To counter the shiny, smooth plastic cases, Purepartner added a cube made of dark, coarse zebrawood, with the products on top of it nestled in a bed of real grass.

To further balance the booth’s technology, Purepartner designed a wooden bed filled with river rock and wheat grass from which acrylic rods protruded like bamboo shoots through the exhibit floor. The organic touch helped offset the digital ambiance, as did images of butterflies and dandelions sprinkled throughout the space.

“This kind of Japanese balance and naturalness isn’t something you’d expect in an electronics company,” said one judge. “It exudes a sense of calm that’s really refreshing.” And a design that’s, well, in-yo face.e