Hasta La Ideas

Japanese designers Nendo will present new additions to their 1% products in Milan this April, including this tea set where the lids double as spinning tops.

New pieces also include stacking vases, a coffee-filter holder that mimics the matching cup it stacks with and a stacking set of saki cups that can be combined to make a tumbler, large cup or jug.

100 of each design will be produced and sold.

Critic Alice Rawsthorn’s spoke to Oki Sato of Nendo about the collection in her interview with him here and you can watch our interview with him on Dezeen Screen here.

The collection will be on show as part of Nendo’s solo show at Palazzo Visconti, Via Cino del Duca 8, Milan from 17-22 April.

Photographs are by Hiroshi Iwasaki.

Here’s some more information from Nendo:

new collection of 1% products will be shown
during the Milano Salone at nendo’s solo exhibition

100 is the perfect amount: they’re neither one-off “works of art” nor mass-produced products made in the millions. Whether its the skill of the artisans or new technologies, we want to make things that are only possible because there are 100 of them. Not more, not less. To give owners the chance to experience the joy of owing 1%.

Win-tea cup

This three-piece set consists of a cup, saucer and coffee filter holder whose form mimics that of the cup and saucer.

With its stabilizing form when placed on top of the cup to pour coffee, and a volume of precisely one cup of coffee, the filter holder provides maximum function with minimal fuss.

The saucer doubles as a tray for the filter holder after coffee has been brewed, and the entire set can be stacked for storage at half its height by placing the filter holder between the saucer and cup.

Top-tea set

A teapot and cup set.

The thick wooden lid provides good insulation to keep the tea warm, and its pointed center condenses steam into liquid and directs it back into the teapot, rather dripping down the sides.

The lid becomes a top, and can be spun on the tabletop for amusement while drinking tea.

Block-vase

A set of small bud vases that can be stacked together like building blocks.

The vase comes in four different sizes, carefully measured to fit together without disturbing the vase on the bottom.

With careful stacking, the cases can accommodate a tall flower by running it through the vase on the top.

Stack-sake set

A sake set consisting of pitcher and cups, in the form of stacks of cups. The different sizes correspond to different types of drinks: one cup is a choko small glass, two cups stacked a slightly larger one, and four cups stacked a tumbler. The stack of five cups is actually a pitcher for sake.

Because all of the cups have the same shape, they can be stacked together when not in use, and the one-cup choko doubles as a lid for the pitcher.

When the pitcher is heated, for drinking warm sake, the cups can be warmed simultaneously, too.

Shrink-plate

A design that takes advantage of porcelain’s characteristics. When ceramics are fired, extreme differences in the thickness of the clay make the other side of the clay shrink away. Potters usually try to prevent this through a variety of techniques such as controlling the thickness of the clay and using curved rather than flat surfaces.

The shrink-plate, on the other hand, makes what’s usually seen as a problem into a design feature.

By increasing the thickness of the decorative elements and making the slab of the plate particularly flat and thin, the plate’s decoration stands out in relief.

Place: Palazzo Visconti
Address: Via Cino del Duca 8, Milan
Transportation: San Babila
Date: April 17- 22, 2012
Opening Hours: 11:00 – 20:00