INTERVIEW

Nendo

Biography

Nendo are a six-person-strong multidisciplinary design company based in Tokyo and led by founder Oki Sato. They undertake a range of projects from architecture to interior and event design, through to furniture and product design and graphic design. They have worked with major clients, including Camper shoes, Issey Miyake, and Kenzo. They were awarded the Elle Decoration International Design Award in 2004. Nendo’s motivation, they say, is to give people a small “!” moment in their day-to-day lives. They believe these moments are what make our days interesting and worthwhile. Nendo, therefore, want to reconstitute everyday products, experiences, and services by collecting and reshaping them into something that is easier to understand. Ultimately, Nendo state that they would like the people who have encountered their designs to feel these small “!” moments intuitively.

Interview

How do you develop concepts?

In our everyday life, Oki develops a concept (story) first. Then he shares it with our staff and the client via a Manga sketch. After that we decide on all the details (i.e. materials, shape, color and so on) for the concept. For Nendo, any detail is fine as long as it is linked with the concept.

What techniques do you use in concept development?

There are many aspects that we have to decide, but the story behind the project is the most important for us. There is no set rule for our design. We always say we don’t design a product, we design a story. The story is everything around the product.

How do you evaluate your concepts?

We discuss it with the client and our design staff. The most important aspect is, “Does everything follow the concept?” Usually Oki and another member of Nendo’s staff work as a team for a project.

What methods of product visualization do you use?

We mainly use sketches like Japanese Manga. We only use the Manga sketches first to share the concept, then we make 3D renderings and/or models and/or drawings. Then we (or the manufacturer) make the first prototype. And, importantly, we will modify it again and again.

Cabbage chair, 2008. Nendo were commissioned by fashion designer Issey Miyake to make furniture out of the waste pleated paper that is produced in large amounts during the process of making his pleated fabric garments. Nendo’s solution was to transform a roll of pleated paper into this chair, which appears gradually as you peel away its external layers, one at a time.

Blown, 2009. These fabric lanterns are intended to convey the possibilities of new materials developed within Japanese synthetic fiber technology. The thermoplastic lights glow beautifully when light passes through them, in the style of vernacular chochin paper lanterns.

Chab table, 2005, draws inspiration from the traditional Japanese chabudai low table that can be used in a variety of settings. Nendo’s reinterpretation can be a side table when in its high position, and in its low position it’s a coffee table. By removing the upper tray it can also be used in bed.