Category — Table Ware

Looking for a kid’s gift? This Hand Fork & Hand Spoon set is adorable and would make dinner time just a little bit more special. Especially if you happen to be dealing with a picky eater.

The Hand Fork & Hand Spoon is a recent joint collaboration between Mitsubai Tokyo and illustrator Moe Furuya (whose name is not pronounced like one of the 3 stooges). The set retails for 3,150 yen. If you’re interested, you can see some of Furuya’s psychedelic illustrations HERE.

How awesome is this packaging? If I owned a store I would display them like books in a bookshelf.

I recently discovered Crate Furniture, purveyors of beautiful wooden things, based out of Kagoshima, Japan. I would love to eat out of those wooden bowls. From the picture I can’t figure out how they were made, but those wooden vases are fantastic too.

It just so happens that some of their pieces are on display at Heath Ceramics (in LA) in conjunction with a show featuring products from Playmountain, a design shop in Tokyo. The show began on June 5th and runs through the entire summer (September 5th).If you are in the area you should definitely check it out!

photos by Satomi Tomita.

Back in March Torafu Architects’ Air Vase debuted on dezeen to high acclaim. The highly versatile paper vessel, manufactured by the gods of paper, also known as kaminokousakujo, can be stretched and sculpted into a plate, vase or bowl. And now it is officially available! (1,260 yen for a set of 3)

You can watch a slightly intimidating video below to see how the vessel, which starts out as a flat disk, is sculpted into a preferred shape. What is beautiful about the vessel is that it has multi-colored sides, which change depending on your vantage point.

Related:

• Kotori Mobile by passkey design
• address tray by andesign
• New Study | mina perhonen + torafu architects
• Template in CLASKA by Torafu Architects
• Boolian by Torafu Architects

click images to enlarge

Seasons, a functional kitchen and serving ware designed by Nao Tamura, has won the Salone Satellite Award at Milan Design Week 2010.

The plates are inspired by Japanese customary traditions of using leaves as decorateive objects in the presentation of food. In the Spring, cherry tree leaves are used to wrap sweets. In Autunm, fallen folliage is used to decorate the table. Leaves are also used as dividers when presenting an assortment of dishes.

image courtesy of designboom

Snow Magazine via Designboom

Related:

• Milan Design Week 2010 | Japanese Design

As part of their 50th anniversary, Stelton has enlisted Japanese designer Hiromichi Konno to design Setting Bowls for their Spring 2010 collection. When stacked the bowls resemble a flower in full bloom – very elegant and cheery. I love the pastel colors!

As of 2008 Konno has established a design studio in Tokyo. But before that he spent 3 years under the wings of Ross Lovegrove and then another 6 independently in the UK. This experience definitely shows through in his work.

Planning on checking out the Tokyo 69th International Gift Show starting tomorrow and continuing on through the end of the week? Be sure to check out the Takahashi Kogei booth where designers Oji Masanori and Rina Ono will be showcasing their respective new works.

From Oji Masanori: KAMI dishes, a new addition to the KAMI line of paper-thin wooden cups. To be used as coasters, lids or whatever you want, really. Also, the Kakudo wooden butter cases.

From Rina Ono: The wooden desert cup and goblet.
Wood is horrible at conducting heat, which makes it ideal as a container for cold deserts because you don’t get condensation!

Related:

• Baby In Table by Oji Masanori
• Cowakka by Rina Inao

A big surprise on my doorstep when I got home yesterday! My friends at Branch sent over a care package of the beautiful Wasara disposable tableware, fresh off the boat from Japan (read the story here). The actuals are even more stunning than they appeared on screen. My only dilemma now is, what kind of shindig do I need to throw to justify the usage of these beauties. Purchase Wasara HERE!

This clever design done for the holiday season somehow slipped under my radar and into one of my wife’s magazines. The Bottle Baguette (3,700 yen), by Japanese haute couture heavyweight Issey Miyake, is a essentially pretty packaging for a wine bottle to be used when attending dinner parties. The packaging then remains on the bottle, which can be transformed into a flower vase.

Related:

• Issey Miyake packaging boxes by Shun Kawakami

Exciting news! The kind folks over at Branch just emailed me to inform me that that it’s official. They have signed an agreement to be the exclusive U.S. distributor of WASARA line of biodegradable tableware. They are taking pre-orders now and expect to start shipping in mid-December.

This is especially exciting for me because I helped facilitate the introduction and initial communications between Wasara and Branch!

Related:

• the very first Wasara post
• designer of the Wasara plates here and here

The winners of the 2009 Toyama Product Design Competition were recently announced. I wasn’t crazy about the first place so instead I’m going to direct your attention to the runner up…but of course feel free to check out all 3 winners on the website. This year’s theme was color. Not exactly a unique theme but inspiring none the less. Especially when you have Jin Kuramato applying the theme to traditional wooden bowls and tea cups. And I love how they stack!

Related:

• Toyama Design Competition | Drop by Tetsuo Shibuya
• Jin Kuramoto