OKI SATO of NENDO: There are two designers here in Milan that I would visit about one week a month and the difference I guess the scale, in Milan it’s much more smaller, relaxed, and I have the chance to meet all my European clients, in Tokyo instead it’s very crowdy, everything very rapid, I would say the time is really different. Nendo’s Oki Sato tells AD PRO why gravity was his true collaborator for this new exhibition, on view now through Salone del Mobile. Since he founded Nendo in 2002 he has overseen the designs for an astonishing array of products, ranging from cheap, disposable pens to high-end furniture for interior-design mavens such as Cappellini, Fritz Hansen and Minotti. By Christina Pére z. April 9, 2019 A look at the installation OUR Instagram Japan buying trips Find your dream koi today! The firm’s big break came in 2008, when Sato was approached by Issey Miyake, a Japanese fashion designer. “Issey taught me the opposite. San Jose, CA 95112. In 2016 Dezeen, a British architecture and design website, anointed him the world’s most popular designer. From Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oki Sato, Cabbage Chair (2008), Resin impregnated paper That’s the key to coming up with good ideas quickly.” Fittingly for the head of a company whose name means “clay”, it is as though Sato has remodelled the very concept of overwork into a peculiar form of stress relief. OKI SATO, THE DESIGNER behind Tokyo studio Nendo, often juggles 400 projects at once, he says, at times introducing a new product every week—from a compact earthquake-survival … Oki Sato, the self-proclaimed spinning-top of Nendo, sees design as a means to engage in a form of dance with our endless human curiosities. Click here to view all our upcoming events! “I see Doraemon as my personal master, my maestro,” Sato says of Japan’s most popular cartoon character, a robot cat from the future with a bottomless pocket of wacky gadgets, which in many ways resemble Nendo’s playful products. Jul 6, 2020 - Plunge, soak, dip, lap, bathe, dream, indulge. “We couldn’t do nearly as many projects without it,” he says. “Chopsticks ordinarily come in pairs,” explains Sato, “but the rassen chopsticks are a … “We have to be adaptive,” he grins. Sato also escaped into the videogames of Nintendo and other Japanese companies. A play on the Japanese pronunciation of “thinking”, the footstools, tables and shelves can’t actually be used; their angles are carefully cut so that they appear to be submerged within the floor. Fax: (408) 295-4501. Sato’s originality, even when it came at the expense of practicality, attracted the attention of luminaries from the world of Italian design, such as Giulio Cappellini and the late furniture designer Maddelena de Padova. Nendo design studio is synonymous with designer Oki Sato, born in 1977 in Toronto, Canada. Sato is 41, but with his mop of carefully tousled hair he could pass for a decade younger. Sign up to get the latest on sales, new releases and more …. But as costs have fallen, the devices have come to play an integral role in Sato’s work. The weight is illustrated with a dumpy little figure sitting on the floor with its tiny feet splayed out, the spring is a mightily extending stick figure, and the clasp stands beneath the pen with its arm raised to hold the nib steady. Haruka Sato Mentorship with Dice Tsutsumi at Tonko House, Inc. San Jose, California 500+ connections In his quest to challenge himself, Sato dreams up innovative products and spaces across sectors that push the boundaries of design. Tenoha Milan, the Japanese concept store in Via Vigevano 18, hosts an installation for Daikin from designer Oki Sato, founder of Studio Nendo. What’s unusual about Sato is how he has married that with what Andresen labels Nendo’s “Japanese perfectionism”, all without sacrificing fun for formality. Its artists and designers have been influencing Western style since the opening of the nation’s ports in 1860, when an abundance of pottery, furniture, silks and prints wowed the European and American avant-garde. When a client commissions him, he tries to make something “they themselves don’t even realise they want…There’s an element of surprise. The market for contemporary fine design — works that blur the line between the artistic and the decorative — is expanding at a rapid clip. “I had always felt it necessary to have a clear goal in mind when designing,” says Sato. It opened his eyes, he says, to what he calls “the fun of design”. “I wasn’t much of a student,” he laughs. Pioneered in 2002 by Canadian-born principal Oki Sato, the Tokyo design practice Nendo has created retail showrooms for brands like Camper, … Sato’s idea was to take bundles of wastepaper and make them into a chair by slicing them down the side and peeling the layers back like a banana. Now Sato has a new method of doodling: 3D printing. … Sato has an overwhelming drive to excel, but chafed at the narrow focus of the curriculum. Miyake, who is known for his intricately pleated clothing, manufactures his fabric using a process involving sheets of paper that are discarded after use. What’s unusual about Sato is how he has married that with what Andresen labels Nendo’s “Japanese perfectionism”, all without sacrificing fun for formality. For anyone familiar with the fantasies of anime or the stylishly squashed proportions of classic Japanese video-game characters like Pikachu or Mario, the whimsy of Japanese creators has never been in doubt. They look like lovers on a date. “But I don’t necessarily think the more time you spend thinking, the better ideas you come up with. In 2002 he founded nendo design studio. For years, he relied on handmade prototypes, which he would have shipped to wherever he was in the world so he could carry on working on them. “Traditionally, the thinking is the fewer projects you do the better quality you can deliver,” he says, sitting in his stylishly spare office as Kinako, his Chihuahua-pug cross, snores nearby. Matt Alt meets Oki Sato in Tokyo to talk about the funny side of Japanese design. All rights reserved. We are a direct importer of high quality Japanese Koi fish, Thai Goldfish, pond equipment, & dry goods for all your aquatic needs. He has designed public parks, museum spaces and, most recently, the interior of the next-generation trains for the TGV, France’s high-speed rail network. Come and visit! Even Sanrio, creators of Hello Kitty, the cartoon cat behind a multi-billion-dollar franchise, came to Sato when they wanted to give their character a new twist. He claims to have shown little interest in art or design as a child; instead he immersed himself in anime and manga comics from his home country. But he also masterminds stunning shops for such top brands as Camper and Issey Miyake. Sato’s prodigious output shares some of this clean simplicity, but none of its mirthless rigidity. People outside Japan, he says, tend to think of Japanese design in terms of ritualised minimalism, formality and restraint. Sold short: confessions of a young banker. Oki Sato, Nendo. With technology being our way of life these days, it’s no surprise that designers use it as well to make their work lives easier. A pool for every taste. Well that’s exactly where Oki Sato from Nendo turned to, when he was asked to redesign a series of chopsticks. When the tables were finished, their legs were more intricately entwined. Mar 1st 2019. by Matt Alt. The sheer diversity of the designs, things I’d never even imagined, left a great impression on me. OPPO, a leading smart device company, has tapped renowned japanese design studio nendo to explore the possibilities of the future of design. Sometimes you need to let the goal find you.”. The pandemic has cost the company a significant amount of revenue, leading to a reduction in jobs. upcoming event on Saturday, Sept. 15th, 2018. As they worked on it, Sato and his team conducted a huge amount of research into the mechanisms that affect how a pen writes, and, in order to improve the balance of the pen and reduce the rattling that afflicts most disposable biros, added extra weights, springs and clasps to the inner workings of their pen. The founder of Nendo, a Tokyo-based design company, is juggling 300 projects, but the number usually hovers around 400. Sato’s thinking still comes in cartoon form. It’s a ballpoint called the bLen, which Nendo designed in 2018 for Zebra, a Japanese company. His passion for design and its limitlessness is uninhibited and childlike in the most remarkable of ways. If he had only two or three clients, he says, he’d never stop fretting over them. Years later, after moving back to Japan, he became so good at Puyo Puyo, a Tetris-like game but with cute jelly-blobs instead of blocks, that he became Tokyo’s regional champion. An update on the tradition of Tanka, where one person starts a poem and a second completes it, they traded ideas via iPhone. Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2020. With their encouragement he founded Nendo with a group of like-minded friends. Focus is more important. As Oki Sato … Rather than studying, he spent his time drawing caricatures for pocket money. 1843 magazine Mar 1st 2019 edition. What's yours?. Case in point, Luca Nichetto, of Nichetto Studio, and Oki Sato, of Nendo, joined forces to design a modular seating system for &tradition and it came about virtually. “A few months later,” Andresen says, “a small package arrived at my desk, with three small 3D-printed chairs.” They were models of the N01, an elegant and restrained wooden creation launched in 2018, with a gently curving veneer seat and backrest that appear to float in a cradle of arms and legs. They are a pleasure to work with, making it a joy to come to work. Personifying the interactions between the various components allows them to be understood at a glance. There is a flashlight made of a sheet of paper, developed using printed circuit boards by AgIC and special synthetic paper by Takeo. From Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oki Sato, Fadeout (2009), Wood, painted acrylic The Gaku Vase, designed by Oki Sato, aims to create what's never been created before. nendo is a design studio founded by oki sato, with offices in both tokyo and milan. When Sato showed Miyake a tentative work-in-progress, Miyake loved it and immediately declared the design finished. In 2009, Oki Sato was chosen to work with Arketipó bringing his unique vision to a range called DECOBOCO. Amazing tosai koi in showa, ginrin showa, ginrin shiro, ochiba, beni kumonryu, kumonryu, doitsu kohaku, doitsu sanke, kujaku, mukashi ogon, karashigoi, JPD NorthCal Authorized Dealer Genki koi ha. nendo means ’clay’ in Japanese – or more specifically, modelling clay such as plasticine. Matt Alt meets Oki Sato in Tokyo to talk about the funny side of Japanese design. He followed this with the Roof Collection, a desk and console which came in tents like cartoon teepees. It’s a workload that seems like a recipe for burnout, but Sato insists that he finds it relaxing. He asked Sato to try and come up with a method for recycling them. Cons. Surprise is what makes people happy.”. In 2002 he visited the Salone del Mobile in Milan, the world’s biggest design fair. Back then Japan offered a dose of rustic exoticism, but now it means something else. “A good design”, Sato says, “is anything you can explain to your mother over the telephone.” It’s an idea as amusingly minimalist as his work.■, Sign up to our free daily newsletter, The Economist today, Published since September 1843 to take part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”. Characterized by a linear, simple design, DECOBOCO was a way to illustrate that sofas could have alternations in height and function, whilst remaining soft and playful. just received a JPD koi food container shipment from Japan today. Sato was born in 1977 in Toronto, where his father was working, and spent the first decade of his life in rural Canada. Nendo on display: from June 7 to October 31st 2016 the Design Museum Holon, Israel, presents first-ever large-scale retrospective exhibition of Japanese studio Nendo, founded by Oki Sato in 2002.The exhibition, titled The Space in Between, features both old and new pieces providing an extensive survey of the works of one of the most versatile designers worldwide. 1850 S 10th Street #14. Each display area is a concentrate of inventions, prototypes and clever technical and formal concepts. When he first discovered 3D-printing machines, they were so expensive that there was concern they would bankrupt the company. He grew up on video games and anime. For Oki Sato of Japanese firm Nendo and Italian designer Luca Nichetto, collaborating on Isole Modular Seating was a study in virtual connectivity. The salary and benefits are very good. The work of prolific Toronto-born, Tokyo-raised multi-hyphenate Oki Sato and his design studio Nendo is being showcased in a retrospective at the Design Museum Holon in … Breeze of Light is an immersive experience into a bright and welcoming world of white, isolated from the chaotic frenzy of Design Week. Oki Sato is having a slow month. O ki Sato … His popularity is based on playfulness. We’ve seen many iterations of the redesigned, reimagined device from the smart umbrella with anti-slip coatings, the inverted UnBRELLA and even an umbrella that looks like a head of lettuce.But the latest comes from Oki Sato of Nendo, who has focused his energy not on the canopy or the ribs but … He won it so many times that the hosts eventually crowned him the programme’s top cartoonist. In London dealer David Gill‘s dining room, a table by of-the-moment duo Garouste & Bonetti illustrates how easily such pieces fit in with vintage furnishings and fine art, in this case 1950s English chairs and a Richard Prince piece. Nendo will be taking up residence at Israel's Design Museum Holon from June 8 to October 30, 2016, in the first large-scale retrospective showcasing the work … Not any specific product, but rather the realisation of just how broad a field design could be.”. Sato’s Hareu is both furniture and lamp, a fusion that he is far from being the first to explore, witness Carlo Forcolini’s Apocalypse Now table for Alais from 1983. There wasn’t any sense of limits or genres. 6,652 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from ‘okisato’ hashtag The passion that Sato poured into these whimsical pursuits soon found a new vessel. Phone: (408) 295-4500. Fashion designers doing interiors. The project page on Nendo’s website explains all of this with a simple line-drawn cartoon. We bring you 10 of our favorite designs by Canadian-born Japanese designer and interior architect Oki Sato and his design studio, Nendo, which currently has an … A series of stackable end-tables, the idea was initially illustrated with a figure whose arm is wrapped around the leg of a table as though the two are the best of friends. Sat-Sunday, 10am - 5pm. In Italy he finally found the freedom he had yearned for as an architecture student: “Interior designers producing teacups. At the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, where the bowls were first shown in 2012, Sato positioned dozens of them in front of an oscillating fan, creating a pulsating tableau like a tabletop coral reef. Sitting in one of the meeting rooms in his studio in Tokyo, which overlooks the crown prince’s leafy estate, he plucks a pen off the table. Photo Federico Floriani. Oki Sato’s Wonderful Interior Life Speaking at Toronto's Interior Design Show next week, the founder of Tokyo studio Nendo is best known for creating super-minimal furnishings. There can be any number of explanations for the Japanese passion for reinventing the umbrella. It wasn’t that he was lazy – anything but. We are closed on Mondays. Sato submitted exaggerated portraits of local celebrities to magazines and to a prime-time TV show called “Waratte Iitomo”, which ran a caricature competition. Located in a quiet residential area of Tokyo, Japan, the Stairway House is the latest project of Oki Sato for his friend and former business partner Akihiro Ito.The two met in school and have been friends ever since and partners ever since Sato established his design studio in 1997. A unique material that makes it easy to do creative modelling. Tues-Friday 11am - 6pm. Products that once began as cocktail-napkin brainstorms can now leap fully formed from a machine. 361 Followers, 270 Following, 743 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Masaru Sato (@masapong) When Christian Andresen, head of design at Fritz Hansen, a Danish firm, first approached Sato about designing a chair, Sato was unsure. After finishing school in Japan, he enrolled in the architecture programme at prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo. For anyone familiar with the fantasies of anime or the stylishly squashed proportions of classic Japanese video-game characters like Pikachu or Mario, the whimsy of Japanese creators has never been in doubt. See more ideas about Pool, Swimming pools, Cool pools. Oki Sato’s established his practice shortly after the millennium under the name Nendo. See more ideas about design, nendo design, siam discovery. His sense of whimsy manifested itself in his earliest projects, such as a collection called Sinking about Furniture in 2003 (pictured). His work includes flights of fancy such as Manga Chairs (pictured) sprouting wild spokes evoking the lines that suggest motion in comic-book panels, and “shivering bowls” moulded from a material so wobbly that, at the slightest touch, they tremble like jellyfish. At the other end of the spectrum from the disposable pen are the Tangle Tables (pictured), which Sato designed for Cappellini in 2016. Cabbage Chair, 2008 Oki Sato; Bell-orgel Hanging Bell, 2011 Oki Sato; Bell-orgel Standing Bell, 2011 Oki Sato; Rinkak, 2011 Oki Sato; Peel, 2009 Oki Sato; Oppopet, 2011 Oysters in France, KFC in Japan... do they know it’s Christmas? The Cabbage Chair (pictured), as it came to be known, recalls Frank Gehry’s crafty cardboard furniture from the 1970s, but seems even more resourceful. Mar 28, 2020 - Explore Zoe CAI's board "5.Nendo | Oki Sato" on Pinterest. The employees at Oki Data Americas are good people. “A good design”, Sato says, “is anything you can explain to your mother over the telephone.” It’s an idea as amusingly minimalist as his work. Available in Black or White. Consumers turn to Muji’s austere housewares, Uniqlo’s alluringly plain fashions and Marie Kondo’s “Japanese art” of decluttering for a sense of escape and renewal, an antidote to the speed and complexity of modern life. Most remarkable of ways paper by Takeo you need to let the goal find you..! 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