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Shivering Bowls by Nendo

These delicate bowls by Japanese design studio Nendo are so thin they quiver in the wind (+ movie).

Shivering Bowls by Nendo

Nendo created Shivering Bowls for the KAMA. Sex & Design exhibition at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan. Eight designers were asked to produce a piece that explores the idea of eros, the Greek term for erotic love, and Nendo responded by creating an extremely thin bowl from silicon.

Shivering Bowls by Nendo

"We wanted to express eros through a design that invokes desire - a design that viewers simply can't bear not to touch," said the designers.

Shivering Bowls by Nendo

The bowl changes shape when touched by a finger or buffeted by a breeze, as the movie shows.

Shivering Bowls by Nendo

The KAMA. Sex & Design exhibition runs from 5 December until 10 March 2013 at the Triennale Design Museum, Milan.

Shivering Bowls by Nendo

Other projects by Nendo we've featured recently include a collection of glass bowls that look like the bottom half of a Coca-Cola bottle and a chair that's wrapped in fishing line rather than varnished.

Shivering Bowls by Nendo

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Shivering Bowls by Nendo

The movie is by Takahisa Araki and photographs are by Hiroshi Iwasaki.

Here's some more information from Nendo:


Shivering Bowls

A set of bowls for the KAMA. Sex & Design exhibition at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan. The curators asked eight designers to create an object, in conjunction with an exhibition that explored ideas of eros in design from ancient times to the present, from a cultural anthropology and mythical perspective.

We located the intersection of eros and design in the spiritual pleasure provided by an object's touch, and decided to make an extremely thin bowl out of silicon for our contribution. The bowl resembles a ceramic one, but with a tension to this perception, generated by the extreme thinness that would be impossible to achieve with clay. The bowl changes shape as easily as liquid when it is touched, and continues to quiver momentarily in response to the outside force. We wanted to express eros through a design that invokes desire - a design that viewers simply can't bear not to touch.

KAMA. Sex and Design
Date : 5th Dec 2012 –10th March 2013
Place : Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy