Nendo Chair Garden | Milan 2010.

Nendo’s Chair Garden was, without a doubt, one of my favourite Milan moments this year. I found it so spectacular that it actually made me squeal with excitement. I have been a huuuuge fan of nendo work for quite some time now – from architecture and interiors, furniture and products, Oki Sato is one of the truly brilliant designer of our generation.

Chair Garden was a private exhibition held at Galleria Antonia Jannone in Milan’s Brera area. Nendo’s installation featured a series of tiny flower pots with ‘sprouting’ furniture.

A stool grows a backrest, and becomes a chair. When an armrest sprouts from it, it is an armchair. The stool grows sideways, and becomes a bench, or lengthwise and becomes a lounge chair, or even a bed. If we can see a piece of furniture’s function changes as it grows and matures over time, we may find new clues, even a way to design form naturally. This installation explores ways of determining form based not on function or a modular system derived from the proportions of the human body, but on ‘furniture that grows’.

Amongst the products nendo showed at Milan this year was the Wire-Chair {pictured above}, next generation of the Cord-Chair launched last year for Maruni.

The super slender Wire-Chair features 12mm stainless steel rod legs with multiple layers of powder coating, which give it a lustrous finish reminiscent of Japanese laquerware. The  chair is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.

H.O.T.N.E.S.S.

Oh, and the glass case {the top images, left of the Wire-Chair} contained all of nendo’s work as miniatures. Total squeal moment. I bet that you too would’ve squealed in excitement, right?!