Splinter

Photo credits: Yoneo Kawabe

Splinter is the newest collection by Nendo. Each piece has the appearance of being splintered with wood that is peeling away from itself. In woodworking, a splintered or broken piece of timber is generally deemed defective. But not for Nendo.  

Photo credits: Yoneo Kawabe

The splinters seem quite natural, so vulnerable and delicate. The subdivisions are curved to form armrests, hooks, frames, legs. Their calming tones of gray, mute, white, and natural echo the zen presence. 

Nendo is known for its poeticism. Oki Sato is used to find beauty in materials that are typically considered waste. The Cabbage Chair, for example, is made from the thin pleated paper thrown away after making a garment. Splinter follows the same logic, subverting a wasted piece of material by bending it into something utterly functional.

Photo credits: Yoneo Kawabe

Photo credits: Yoneo Kawabe

Photo credits: Yoneo Kawabe

Photo credits: Yoneo Kawabe

“We kept larger pieces of wood at their original thickness to provide strength where necessary, and used thin pieces of wood that had splintered off for more delicate parts. We approached the wood gently, going with the grain so that the wood would retain its original pliancy.” 

Nendo

Photo credits: Yoneo Kawabe

Photo credits: Yoneo Kawabe

Nendo is a design firm founded in 2002 in Tokyo, with architect Oki Sato, born in Canada in 1977, as its principal. With their fresh ideas, Nendo have conquered the most esteemed European furniture manufacturers. On their client list are international companies such as Bisazza, Boffi, Camper, De Padova, Established & Sons, Flaminia, Fritz Hansen, Moroso, Thonet Vienna.

The firm realizes its goal of bringing small surprises to people. They call these surprises: the "!" moment. "There are so many small "!" moments hidden in our everyday. But we don’t recognize them. And even when we do recognize them, we tend to unconsciously reset our minds and forget what we’ve seen. But we believe these small "!" moments are what make our days so interesting, so rich. That’s why we want to reconstitute the everyday by collecting and reshaping them into something that’s easy to understand. We’d like the people who’ve encountered nendo’s designs to feel these small "!" moments intuitively. That’s nendo’s job."