Hasta La Ideas

Milan 2014: American furniture company Emeco has revealed a collection of stools and tables made from recycled and reclaimed materials in collaboration with Nendo (+ slideshow).

Called SU, which means simple and plain in Japanese, the collection is being shown at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan this week.

The tabletop is made from high-pressure laminate (HPL). The stool seats come in three materials – reclaimed oak, eco-concrete and recycled polyethylene. The legs to the table and stools are made of reclaimed oak or recycled aluminium in natural or with a black anodized finish.

Oki Sato from Nendo said he was inspired by the American company’s Navy Chair design in making the collection. “The Emeco Navy Chair is “the chair”, and has always been inspiring many architects and designers around the world,” said Sato.

“After roughly two years, we are proud to present a stool, which is strongly linked with the Navy Chair. It is for us, definitely “the stool”.”

The reclaimed oak seat has been sourced from old buildings in the US and carved by Amish craftsmen in Pennsylvania. Magnus Breitling, Vice president of product at Emeco said the wormholes in the oak give the seat “character and uniqueness”.

“We keep the oak seat untreated to allow the colour to change depending on its exposure to the sun, humidity and above all – usage, thus creating its own history,” said Breitling.

The eco or ‘green concrete’ is made from 50 per cent recycled glass bottles and CSA (calcium sulfoaluminate cement), which requires less energy to make.

The recycled polyethylene seats are shaped into the SU seat through rotation moulding and come in red, flint grey and dark charcoal grey.

The stools and tables will be on show until 13 April at the Emeco stand, Hall 20, E09 in Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan.

Here’s some more information from Emeco:

Emeco Announces the SU Collection – Stools and Tables Designed in Collaboration With Nendo

SU Collection features the famous Emeco characteristics of design, engineering and strength, built with recycled and reclaimed materials.

HANOVER, PA – April 8, 2014 – Emeco today announced that they will launch The SU Collection of stools and tables designed in collaboration with Nendo, at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, Italy, April 8 – 13, at Emeco’s Stand Hall 20, E09. The Japanese concept of ‘su’ comes from traditional Japanese culture, and means simple, plain, minimal. Nendo brought the design aesthetic of ‘SU’ to the collaboration with Emeco, along with the name, for the Emeco SU Collection.

The SU Collection features precise engineering and the use of new, surprising eco-conscious materials. SU has “Emeco bones” the iconic seat of Emeco chairs made since 1944, and is made of reclaimed and recycled materials discovered through ongoing exploration of eco-conscious resources. SU seats come in three new material choices, all of which demonstrate a more environmentally conscious way of doing things, using responsibly selected alternatives of some traditional materials.

Solid reclaimed oak seats have been sourced from old architecture in the U.S.A., and carved into the Emeco seat by Amish craftsmen in Pennsylvania. Every piece is unique with signs of its past life. Eco- Concrete seats are made of Green-Concrete, a revolutionary concept that can replace the energy-consuming traditional concrete used in architecture. Emeco’s eco-concrete SU seat consists of 50% recycled glass bottles and CSA (calcium sulfoaluminate cement) that takes much less energy to make.

Recycled Polyethylene seats, made of 75% postindustrial and 25% post consumer content, and shaped into the SU seat through rotation molding, come in three timeless colour options – red, flint grey and dark charcoal grey. Emeco’s traditional material, recycled aluminium is used to make SU legs with either natural or black anodized finish. Reclaimed oak, as used in the seat, is another choice for the legs.

The post Nendo reimagines the Navy Chair
to create new stool for Emeco appeared first on Dezeen.

Si vede che manco da qualche giorno alla mia solita routine di postaggio. Complice un po’ di influenza e impegni vari, la colonnina centrale del blog è rimasta un po’ a riposo. Ad ogni modo, non potevo non notare questa collezione di tazze disegnata da Nendo per la catena di Starbucks in Giappone. Le due metà della tazza sono totalmente identiche ma mentre in una c’è il classico vuoto per contenere liquidi, nell’altra hanno stampato il top come se fosse piena sul serio. La serie è composta dai gusti Americano, Caramel Macchiato e Latte. In distribuzione dal 19 marzo.

Laces are threaded through the uppers of these shoes by Japanese designers Nendo for Spanish shoe company Camper, creating patterns across the whole surface (+ slideshow).

Nendo set out to create a lighter, more water-resistant version of Camper‘s bestselling Peu Ideal shoe, which features a stretchy lace secured with a knot at each end.

“We lit upon the idea of working with Camper’s iconic stretchable shoelaces and knots,” explained Nendo.

Available in four colours, the Beetle uses elastic laces to perforate the shoe across the entire upper, tied in knots at three points to keep them in place.

“In our design, shoelaces interlaced across the shoe’s upper provide comfort and wearability, at the same time as they take on a starring role, bringing new function and visual style alike,” the designers added.

Making the shoes from a combination of nylon and polyurethane, Nendo has added further waterproofing and made the shoe lighter than the original.

The sole also features thermal insulation and is inscribed with the words “Human Energy”.

The studio plans to exhibit the shoes in Milan next month during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, which runs from 8 to 13 April. The shoes are also available on Camper’s website.

This isn’t the first time the two companies have collaborated together: last year Nendo designed the brand’s flagship New York store featuring more than a thousand ghostly white shoes protruding from the walls.

Camper has also worked with a number of other high-profile designers on its shoe line, including Jasper Morrison’s version of the Country Trainer and Spanish designer Jaime Hayon’s Together shoes that were inspired by English bespoke footwear.

The post Nendo creates Beetle shoe for Camper
with laces slotted through the uppers appeared first on Dezeen.

Japanese studio Nendo has dressed up these wooden tables for Walt Disney Japan to look like characters from children’s story books Winnie-the-Pooh.

Nendo created colourful knitted covers for the Pooh Table collection of maple wood furniture so the designs represent the famous yellow bear and his companions.

“To reflect the stories’ setting in the Hundred Acre Wood, the tables use natural-feel maple extensively, and come in sizes and silhouettes intended to recall the stories’ characters,” said Nendo.

The largest table has a red knit covering a shelf beneath it’s top, similar to the sweater worn by Winnie the Pooh.

His close friend Piglet is depicted as a three-legged side table wearing a purple sleeve across most of its top.

Forlorn donkey Eeyore is channelled through a table with a surface that droops to the floor, dressed in grey fabric.

Bouncy tiger Tigger’s orange tail is mimicked by a table’s stand, which extends down past where it branches into three legs.

A design with surfaces at two heights looks like kanagroo mother-and-son pair Kanga and Roo, while Rabbit is identified by knitted socks on two legs of another table in the collection.

The Winnie the Pooh stories were written by AA Milne in the 1920s for his son Christopher Robin, who also features in the tales.

The stories were commercialised by American producer Stephen Slesinger in the 1930s, when the cartoon characters we recognise today were first created.

Following his death, the rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise were licensed to animation studio Walt Disney Productions in 1961.

Nendo created this series for Disney‘s Japanese branch, which has one of its Disneyland resorts in Tokyo.

The post Nendo bases furniture for Walt Disney Japan
on Winnie-the-Pooh characters appeared first on Dezeen.

Japanese design studio Nendo has installed screens based on wrought iron fences in the women’s clothing section of Tokyo‘s Seibu department store so it resembles a European city park (+ slideshow).

Brands and product displays on Seibu‘s third floor change rapidly, so Nendo designed modifiable fixtures for the space that look like street furniture in parks.

“Our design took inspiration from the wrought iron fences surrounding the parks, squares and other green spaces in European cities,” said the designers.

The decorative white screens are suspended from the ceiling, dividing the space and doubling as rails for hanging the garments.

These can be taken down and reinstalled in other areas of the store to change the layout.

Manequins are hung on wires attached to rails on the ceiling, so they can also be relocated.

A herringbone pattern of plastic tiles in shades of grey to represent paving spreads across the entire floor surface.

Wooden pedestals resembling planters display accessories on their illuminated tops.

Shoppers can rest on outdoor furniture such as low seating and park benches, some of which are used to present folded clothes.

In the changing rooms, artificial plants that match the colours of the walls crawl down from the lit gaps along the ceiling edges.

Photographs are by Masaya Yoshimura.

Here’s some text from Nendo:

The multi brand and shared areas for the women’s clothing floor on the third floor of the Seibu department store in Tokyo’s Shibuya. The ‘contemporary luxury’ floor presents multiple brands together in a unified environment, but each brand needs to be gently distinguished from the others.

The brands’ lineup and product arrangement change at a dizzying pace, so the fixtures needed to be easily modifiable.

Our design took inspiration from the wrought iron fences surrounding the parks, squares and other green spaces in European cities. We created screens based on these fences, and suspended them from the ceiling as hanger racks for the clothes. The screens are easy to remove and relocate, and have built-in lighting to illuminate the clothes. They come in seven different patterns, to give each brand a distinctive look.

We also created ceiling-suspended shelves, as well as low floor fixtures inspired by park benches and a bench reminiscent of a fountain’s edge.

To overcome cost and thickness restrictions for the flooring, we cut ordinary plastic floor tiles into different shapes and created a variegated flooring pattern that recalls cobblestones.

The colourful changing room walls are finished with artificial ivy in different hues, and the changing rooms offer simulated outdoor light as well as indoor light, for checking clothes in a variety of environments.

These designs create a free, lighthearted environment, similar to the experience of strolling in a park.

The post Nendo styles Tokyo department store
like a European park appeared first on Dezeen.