Created for a solo exhibition held at the Eye of Gyre gallery in Omotesando, Tokyo, during Tokyo Designers Week 2015, nendo’s Border Table collection is a series of unusual tables that consists of a 5mm square metal rod with a small tabletop measuring a radius of 100mm attached to it.
“Since it is difficult to grasp beforehand the status of furniture being used when designing furniture for mass production, the designs inevitably tend to become one of an ‘average specification’ that can respond to various scenarios. What’s more, the space will become evened out by such furniture filling the space.” says Oki Sato.
“Thereupon, we expected a new relationship to develop between space and furniture by conceiving the design of the furniture from a specific space. By walking around the gallery we went through a special design process of being inspired by elements that are normally ‘troublesome’, such as the corner of the room or protruding columns. In the process, we took turns in verifying how the furniture was balanced as it was placed within the space, as well as the proportion of the furniture itself.”
Thus, the design utilizes the element of space as a part of its structure by ‘parasitizing’ on to the corners or edges of the walls, the side of the floor and exhibition stands.
all images by Hiroshi Iwasaki, Masaya Yoshimura