Nendo

nendo Gets an Exhibit.

If you happen to be in Israel in the next 5 months you might want to swing by the Design Museum Holon because they are hosting the first exhibit for Japanese design firm nendo. The exhibit chronicles nendo’s work from the studio’s inception in 2002, looking not only at the object they have created, but the creative process and design thinking that goes into them as well.

The exhibition will stretch from the interior to the exterior of the Design Museum Holon’s grounds, to provide an overall thought-provoking and immersive experience. A museum-first, the show will deal with the challenges and the related solutions that nendo – a studio led by one of the most prominent talents of this generation, Oki Sato -has encountered while interacting with the different typologies of objects and their unexplored areas. “This presentation investigates the only space in which Sato could not intervene, the space in between but on which he actually powerfully does: what is in-between, what is un-design and the carefully calculated operative-area left to light and air.

10b

Save it for a rainy day.

One of the advantages of having an attached garage is the fact that I can get into my car when it’s raining with out the need for an umbrella. No umbrella means, no umbrella stand in the house. Actually there is no need for an umbrella stand because if I had a wet umbrella I could just leave it in the garage as well. OK enough of that. If I needed an umbrella stand, I think I might be inclined to go with the one designed by Oki Sato for Japanese design firm nendo. Meji is a minimalist design that takes it’s inspiration from the joints in a tiled floor. This minimalist, sleek stand is made from a Polystone, a dense resin that is covered with silicone which offers durability and pliability. Using grooves to hold the umbrella upright the stand maintains a clean appearance even when it isn’t in use. Options include a single-umbrella stand or a three-umbrella stand, available in five different colors.

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Nendo’s Floating Fade-Out Chair.

This made me smile.

The Fade-Out chair designed by Nendo of Japan, is such a great concept that could only be achieved with modern production methods. The shape is a simple elegant form, but the execution is stunning. Nendo married wood and acrylic to produce a chair that looks as though it is floating above the surface of the floor. The seat and back are made of solid wood, and the legs are acrylic that has been painted to match the wood texture in order to create the full illusion. The legs are specially painted by craftsmen so that the wood grain appears to gradually fade away as it descends toward the floor.

Nendo will be displaying a collection of their works at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York in an exhibition entitled “Ghost Stories, New Designs From Nendo”

“Usually, our perception of furniture is strongly affected by the space around it. The fade-out chair turns this relationship on its head: we can change the look and feel of a space simply by placing the chair in it. This was our attempt to design space itself through furniture.”