In an interview earlier this year Oki Sato, head of design firm Nendo, indicated that they were simultaneously working on 400 projects. Four Hundred. And I can’t even pour cereal and talk on the phone at the same time. They must be the busiest design studio in the world. So busy, in fact, that a retrospective of all their various projects had to be broken up into 3 parts throughout a period of over 2 months.
a sinuous, snaking table displays Nendo’s works throughout the many rooms of the gallery
Currently on view at Eye of Gyre, a gallery in Omotesando, Tokyo, Nendo’s 3-part retrospective is broken up as follows:
- 1/3 “between hands and objects” (Sept 11 – October 4, 2015)
- 2/3 “between space and objects” (October 6 – October 28, 2015)
- 3/3 “between objects and objects” (October 30 – November 22, 2015)
Admission is free for all segments. Currently in its midst, the retrospective aims to display, and make sense of, the large body of Nendo’s work and its relationship to craftsmanship (part 1/3), space (part 1/3) and objects (part 3/3).
Currently on display is part 2/3 “between space and objects.” This is the one segment for which Nendo has designed a completely new series called “border table.” Responding to the difficulty of envisioning how the end consumer will use mass-produced furniture, Nendo created metal rod contours with small tabletops that wrap around – or in Nendo’s own words, parasitize – the corners and edges of walls.
“border table” is a new serious of furniture created specifically for this exhibition
Nendo created metal rod contours with small tabletops that wrap around the corners and edges of walls
The end of October will signal the final phase of Nendo’s retrospective. For 3/3, the group will display new pieces like their “nest shelf” that was unveiled just a few weeks ago in London. They will also showcase a series of older works, mainly from 2012, that contemplate the relationship between object and object, and how they fit together.
“nest shelf” (2015) – A shelf that from within a second shelf of the same size seemingly grows outward.
“Overflow” (2012) – a table like a pool of water that overflows the frame
“Press Lamp” (2012) – The glass tubes in this pendant and floor lamp are pressed as though they have been pinched, and the light source wedged into the narrowed space that results.
“Rain Bottle” (2014) – clear acrylic bottles lined-up, each representing one of the dozens of Japanese words for rain.
“Scissors” (2012) – A magazine rack formed of flat steel bars arranged on the diagonal at a slight variance, so that magazines can be held in place in the spaces created between them.
