Category — Lighting

The Milano Salone, also known as Milan Design Week, kicks off its annual show next week. I’ve always found this show to be a bit frustrating because there is so much going in so many different venues but I have yet to find a cohesive source of information that provides the basics, ie: who, what, where. So I have taken matters into my own hands: here is a roundup of Japanese designers that will be showcasing new work in Milan.

click images to enlarge
Who: Tomoko Azumi, head of the UK-based Japanese design firm t.n.a. design
What: FLOE tables for Swarovski’s new interiors venture. Taking their cue from floating ice caps of the arctic, the low tables are embedded with several Swarovski crystals and LED lights.
Where: Triennale di Milano

What: Series of furniture for Zilio A&C
Where: Milan Fairgrounds

What: two lamps, Twiggy Lamp and Little Woods, for Japanese lighting company Maxray
Where: Sfera Showroom
source: t.n.a. April 2010 newsletter

Who: Tokyo-based designer Tokujin Yoshioka
What: Following his paper cloud sofa he designed for Italian brand Moroso in ’09, the designer will present Memory, a crumpled aluminum chair for Moroso once again.
Where: Triennale di Milano
source: dezeen

Who: Tokyo-based design firm Nendo
What: Clear Perfume Bottle; an empty perfume bottle in which the perfume is stored in the cap. A visual interpretation of the invisibility that is fragrance. It will be included in their 1% line of products.

What: line chair; possibly the skinniest. chair. ever.
Where: Galleria Antonia Jannone
source: dezeen

Who: Jun Hashimoto and Tatsuo Yamamoto of the Tokyo-based design unit books.
What: Net Chair by Jun Hashimoto (top), molded out of a  single sheet of stainless steel mesh. Mozzarella Chair (bottom) by Tatsuo Yamamoto, made from woven fabric stretched over a 2mm thick stainless steel frame.
Where: Milan Fairgrounds
source: designboom

Who: Shun Kawakami of Tokyo-based design studio Artless
What: hisomu; new collaborative work between Takashi Kawada and balloon artist Rie Hosokai aka Daisy Balloon. Just speculating, but perhaps it will resemble his previous work (pictured above) he has done with Daisy and Kawada.
Where: giuliano Fujiwara / MILANO Store

Who: Tokyo-based product designer Dan Tomimatsu
What: Yoniji (night rainbow); a new lighting project inspired by the optical phenomenon known as a moon halo.
Where: DESIGN SYMPOSIUM XXI

UPDATE (April 8, 2010)

Who: 12 Japanese designers including Oji Masanori, Papier Labo, Yen design and Proof of Guild
What: Thoughts from Japan; An extension of last year’s For Stockists exhibition as seen through the eyes of Italian handbag designer Luisa Cevese.
Where: Luisa Cevese Redizioni

Despite my initial cynicism – begging to tire of the Johnny Depp-Tim Burton-Tim Burton’s wife-tie-up – I have a renewed enthusiasm for Alice In Wonderland, which just hit theaters. Unfortunately, my day-to-day parenting responsibilities will, without a doubt, delay any form of viewing until a DVD release. But this is no reason not to have a little fun.

click images to enlarge

When thinking about the film I keep coming back to the work of Midori Araki, a Japanese artist who creates fantastical and whimsical installations and furniture. Some of her stuff looks like it could be seamlessly placed onto the set. In 2007 she created “Spice of a Day” for the popular lifestyle goods chain Afternoon Tea.

I am also a big fan of the fun and creepy “Phantom Light” (2006) which projects unsuspected shadows onto the ceiling.

Stump (2000) was, in Araki’s own words, modeled after mankind’s very first chair. A limited series of 20 chairs were made, each with their own unique inscription. When arranged properly, they complete an entire verse from a poem.

Speaking of Baden-Baden, I spotted a new piece of work by lighting designer Sachie Muramatsu who has been working with washi paper for over 10 years making exquisite plant and foliage-inspired lamps. Her latest seasonally appropriate pendant lamp (above) goes for 8,400 yen. But be sure to check out some of her older work too! My favorite is the Hozuki Lamp, inspired by the Hozuki, or the Chinese Lantern Plant.

Hozuki Lamp

Hanamizuki Lamp

Ajisai Lamp

Moving right along with my preview of the Good Design Awards, here is a product from the Kitchen and Home Furniture categories, respectively.

Product: Faro Coffee Maker
Designer: Kosei Shirotani
For: Kinto
The Faro Coffee Maker attempts to replace everything disposable (plastic cups and paper filters) within coffee-making process. I also like the minamal design and the way it stacks for easy storage.

Product: Lamp Pumplight
Designer: Pegatron (sounds like a nerdy transformer)
This is an intruiging lamp that forces us to be more concious of our relationship between light. By using the accompanied hand pump you not only inflate the lamp shell (balloon) but you also increase the intensity of the light!

Preview:
Good Design Awards| Part 1

Here’s a sneak peak of some of the great work you will see when you go check out the DeLuxe Exhibition, curated by my acquaintance and fellow blogger Gen of DesignLuxe. The show runs from October 30th to November 3rd at Gallery Egg in the Aoyama district of Tokyo. Excellent job and congratulations, Gen!

Lighting by Hiroshi Kawano

Works by Norihiko Terayama of Studio Note

How often do we brush away fallen leaves and petals in an attempt to beautify our plant? Well, pictured below is an exquisite vase that is designed to equally appreciate beauty in the plant’s imminent death, as well as in its life.

“folling flower” (2008)

This is a rebound off of my previous post, but I thought it deserved a little more attention. Chris Kirby is an industrial designer based out of Tokyo. His mesmerizing new work is called negative pendant lamp. Fully utilizing the transparent characteristics of porcelain, the negative pendant lamp is a sculpture by day and glowing lamp by night.

images courtesy of Chris Kirby. Photos by Max Hodges.

Like I hinted yesterday, one of my favorite resources, Baden Baden, has distracted me from this weekly series on emerging Japanese photogs.

Designed by a furniture designer who goes by the name of RICE, this oh-so-perfect sofa and stool caught my eye. They’re also available in several other drool-worthy colors.

Stool about$300; Sofa about $1,600

I also really like these wooden pendent lights in the motif of icicles and water drops. Designed by PENDULUM.

Icicle Light about $570; Water Drop Light about $470

When I got home from my trip to the beach I found these awesome pictures in my inbox from Kyouei Design. They’re from their recent show, 2 days 4 products, at the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art.

On display was an installation of “mobile light” (top image), “bulb lantern” (middle image), which was unveiled earlier this year, as well as a number of prototypes (bottom image).

Here is a tidbit that should satisfy your trivia hunger for the day. Toshiyuki Tani, the lighting designer who designed this gorgeous lamp…

…and more recently this spectacular pendant lamp…

images courtesy of modern-t.com. top image: kazaguruma (wind mill), bottom image: hokore pendant (respect the pendant). available for purchase here and here.…

was a senior classmate of Kanno Daimon, one of the three designers of A4, which I wrote about yesterday.

Before I head out for the weekend, I need to get something off my chest. It’s my obsession with coral prints, especially antique-styled. So in an attempt to puke it all out I’m doing a coral print extravaganza.
So here are the prints…

from left to right: Esper Coral Print ($135), Black Coral Print ($195), Coral Print by Pretre ($75)

And here are the print/motif inspired housewares…

from left to right: Botanical Coral Silk Twill Pillows ($98), sea life lumbar pillow cover ($39), inhabit coral pillow ($60)

From left to right: coral chair by Ton Haas, oly coral armchair, hand-printed linen chair ($1,695)

left to right: coral dinner plate set ($36), oversize coral chandelier (unfortunately, no longer available)

…aaah, now I feel much better! Have a happy happy weekend!!