Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka will present a chair made of natural crystals at Second Nature, an exhibition he is directing at 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo later this month.
The chair is “grown” in a tank as crystals form on a sponge-like substrate.
The top two images show the process of making a small prototype version of the chair, which is called Venus - Natural Crystal Chair. The images below show the making of a full-size chair.
The Second Nature exhibition features work by Yoshioka as well as invited designers including Ross Lovegrove and the Campana Brothers.
Second Nature runs from 17 October to 18 January 2009. Below: exhibition poster.
Below is information about the exhibition:
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Second Nature – Born of Memory: Thinking About the Future of Design
Nature shows us a beauty that exceeds our imagination. On the other hand, it contains a strength that is sometimes frightening. The forms of nature are unique and cannot be reproduced. This endows them with mysterious beauty and makes them fascinating to us.
I believe that a design is not something that is completed through being given a form, but rather something that is completed by the human heart. I also feel that incorporating the principles and movements of nature into ideas will become something important in future design. I am sometimes surprised at how people who have seen my space installations talk to me about them while seeming to superimpose these works on the natural phenomena that they themselves have experienced.
So, what are the forms of nature that are evoked by human experience? In order to ponder this question in collaboration with others, in the “Second Nature” exhibition I have enlisted the participation of seven designers and artists who have demonstrated exceptional talent. Their works each convey the mysterious power of nature and life. In one work, a plant sealed in ice freshly conveys the life force. In another, a liquid seems to transform, producing hitherto unknown structures.
While some works make one imagine the strange landscapes that have surrounded people, others incorporate phenomena that occur by chance. In addition to these works, there is a cloud-like installation that envelops the entire exhibit space, allowing visitors to view a range of experimental pieces.
Future designs created by fusing technology and the life force with the imaginative powers that spring up from the “nature” that exists deep in each person’s memory; future-oriented ideas born from once again inquiring of the Earth – that is the “second nature” that I envision. - Tokujin Yoshioka, Exhibition Director
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Posted by Marcus Fairs
October 5th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
it’s a very beautiful piece.. but sitting in it must be rather painful!
October 5th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
it looks amazing
October 5th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
yawn. nothing special about this at all. Be it process or medium. almost laughable. wow in the shape of a chair. how absolutely narrowminded.
“I believe that a design is not something that is completed through being given a form, but rather something that is completed by the human heart” Jesus get out of the studio. go for a walk. talk to real people
October 5th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
wtf?!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 6th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Kudos!
October 6th, 2008 at 1:24 am
WOW WOW WEE WAA, thatsa nice
October 6th, 2008 at 4:48 am
“Future-oriented ideas born from once again inquiring of the Earth”? Not sure what that means but as kids we did the same stuff at school using copper sulphate crystals grown over spongey objects. Second nature? You bet.
October 6th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Grow your own…
Very cool.
Now he must come up with a way to make a smooth surface for seating.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
simply beautiful
October 6th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
WOW, you’re great!! Go on! make a series of these things like jars and jewel cases [for exaggerating reflectins and refractions]!!!
I’ll really look for your work
October 6th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
http://www.greetjevanhelmond.com/ - Much nicer!!
October 6th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Interesting process. It’s really unfortunate that while this process can produce ANYthing, this guy chose to make a chair out of it. In that regard, hugely disappointing!
October 6th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Thank you Mimi for the link. Sad to discover greetje van helmond project through a link of a very similar project…. Congratulation to Greetje van Helmond.
October 6th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Agreed. This is not aesthetically pleasing, gives me no emotional kick, and doesn’t fulfill it’s primary function: sitting. The verbiage is overly saccharine; It reminds me of Sarah Palin: vomiting words on the floor and hoping something sticks.
I understand this is art furniture. Art furniture is not furniture, and to me this doesn’t even qualify as art. The more I think about it the more I dislike it.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:02 am
Fantastic works!
We human beings actually are nothing special comparing to the other natural things in the world if you veiw things from an Earth system.
So nothing could be bigger and more important than NATURE!
October 7th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Dude,
I can play devil’s advocate: Cool and painstaking process much respect, but a chair is to be used! Even the most art-design (bleaghh!) chairs are usable. On the other hand one could be clever and state the the user surface could be licked until smooth! THis could open the way for colouring and flavouring!
B
October 7th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
so, this is a… fully functional torture chair, right?
“Now, I will torment you with this Tokujin Yoshioka Designer Torture Chair that will bleed your ass till you’re pale!!”
Kuramata’s chair was painstaking as hell, but this is incomparable! I can’t wait to sit on this thing. Guys, this is Revolutionary. Get it? You make something kinda flashy and blingin’ and transparent with lots of reflection, and PEOPLE will PAY YOU!! ALOT! no matter how much pain is involved or waste or pollution or lack of design ethics. You can be the next star designer.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
it’s a rip-off unfortunately, http://www.dezeen.com/2007/06/25/unsustainable-by-greetje-van-helmond/
October 11th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Great idea, poor choice of furniture. Shouldve made a fruit bowl instead.
October 16th, 2008 at 11:55 am
It’s a similar process to the wonderful project by Roger Hiorns, Siezure.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Ok, it’s a school science experiment but is interesting to see the result when applied in other context. He is not the first or the last person to use the process, but I like the idea and the result even if not necessarily functional.
October 30th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Unfortunately, if you stroll around Milan, trendy shops might show objects where they have already used the same process for a similar, susprising, innovative effect. And that happened 9 years ago, for the first time, trendy decor magazines show pictures of such things. So, sorry, not so innovative, now,. but nice, anyway, as other things on the market are.