Dekoden

A Japanese term describing a craze for cellphone decoration.

Under the headline, “Bling bling with your ring ring,” The Yomiuri Shimbun reported:

The fad is called dekoden – a portmanteau of the words “decoration” and “denwa” (phone) – and its fans can be seen carrying glitzy phones personalized at home using accessories made just for the purpose, or created to an individual design by professionals at certain cell phone stores.

Beads, stickers, fake jewels and charms are used to make cellphones, MP3 players and other gadgets a little more interesting. Curiously, the trend is not restricted to Japan’s youth. Older, bling-shy cellphone owners are reportedly commissioning rustic landscapes from stores which specialize in cell phone decoration.

Tetsuo Watanabe, who runs one such store, told The Yomiuri Shimbun: “There’s more to decorating phones than just making them glittery and flashy.”

Watanabe said one of these techniques has been dubbed “sweets deco” and involves attaching mock confectionery created out of resin to phones, including cake and whipped cream designs. While initials and heart symbols are also popular.

Although dekoden has been around for a few years, it seems that the craze is gaining credibility as a legitimate art-form. According to The Yomiuri Shimbun:

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, held an exhibition on the theme of “Deko” last summer and its current exhibition “The Power of Decoration – A Viewpoint on Contemporary Kogei” (studio crafts), will run until the end of January.

Flashiness was once considered to be in bad taste, and excessive decoration tended to be scorned. However, starting about five years ago, creatives began embracing lavish decoration in their artwork, and the influence of these artists on decoration trends is attracting great attention, a museum official said.