Tokyo studio Naruse Inokuma Architects have designed a coat stand made of five wooden poles held together with string.

The sticks are held in a tensegrity structure so that none of the sticks touch each other.

The stand was on show at Tokyo Designers Week in Japan earlier this month.

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Here's a little text from Naruse Inokuma Architects:

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This is the prototype of coat hanger which we exhibited in Tokyo Designer's Week. As it is called clothes tree, coat hanger tends to become tree-shaped. But this work is composed of only five wooden sticks.

Using tensegrity structure, whole shape maintains only with balance of tension of strings though the five sticks won't touch each other. This is ultimately simple coat hanger geometry and dynamics generate.

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Tokyo 09: architect Makoto Tanijiri of Hiroshima architects Suppose Design Office designed an exhibition environment based on clouds for Designtide Tokyo in Japan last week.

Visitors were led along a tunnel to individual booths, all covered in a fluffy cotton and polyester material.

This material will now be reused, heated and compressed to form suitcase wheels.

Designtide Tokyo took place 10 October to 3 November.

See all our stories about Tokyo Designers Week in our special category.

Here's some text from the organisers:

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The exhibition space was designed with a "cloud" inspiration serving as the basis for subtle partitions that created booths that weren't like traditional booths.

Visitors entered a layered "cloud" tunnel and from there into the TIDE Lounge where materials made by INVISTA were shown.

INVISTA kindly supported the exhibition by providing the material necessary to make the "clouds".

The exhibition design was an antithesis of rigid and invited visitors to meander the site's twisting routes, stumbling upon unexpected discoveries.

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Tokyo 09: in this short interview commissioned for the Tokyo Designers Week guide, designer Gwenael Nicolas asserts that anything is possible in Tokyo.

Gwenael Nicolas - The concept of 'green' is still unclear

“Design is all about exploring, and unless we look to the future nothing will be solved. In Japan, ecological concerns are more integrated into the design processes than elsewhere. I’ve worked with companies abroad that just consider the materials and have asked me to use specific recyclable ones that are just too expensive to be feasible. The concept of ‘green’ is still unclear – it means different things to different people.

Right now, I’m working on a large commercial space where the facade will be covered in solar panels so that the energy systems and technology become a design feature. I’m also experimenting with product packaging as it’s important to consider the entire process from production to delivery, otherwise your influence is purely cosmetic.

I moved to Japan 18 years ago and I live in central Tokyo in Tomigaya. Tokyo is not just a geographical and cultural shift from Europe; it’s a time shift. I feel like anything is possible here. Discussions involve ‘how’ not ‘why’. It really is a refreshing change coming from France where everyone likes to argue about everything. There’s also much more synergy between different disciplines here and everything is about collaboration.

At 100% Design Tokyo, I will show LIGHT-LIGHT – a performance of 100 lights floating freely in space, as if by magic, which people can interact with. It's inspired by the beauty that can be found within the chaos of Tokyo .”

Gwenael Nicolas is president of Curiosity design studio.

Photography by Phil Fisk
Art direction by Micha Weidmann
Interview by Malaika Byng

This interview is taken from the official Tokyo Designers Week guide, produced by Dezeen and art directed by Micha Weidmann.

More interviews in this series:

Jaime Hayón
Tokujin Yoshioka
Max lamb
Tom Dixon
Arik Levy
Ilse Crawford
Matthew Hilton
Shigeru Ban

See all our stories about Tokyo Designers Week in our special category.

The post Tokyo Designers Week interviews:
Gwenael Nicolas appeared first on Dezeen.

Tokyo 09: designer Jaime Hayón describes his love of detail in this short interview commissioned for the Tokyo Designers Week guide.

Jaime Hayón  - The Japanese have a great respect for detail, and I live for detail.

"I love beautiful, old-school materials that come straight from the earth. I work a lot with ceramics, which people have using since Roman times. To me, being green is not about recycling or being ecological; it’s about making things that last. Some things claim to be green but you can only use them twice before you have to throw them away. My view is very straightforward. If we make things that last, they'll go from generation to generation with a lot of strength and force. Materials like glass, crystal and ceramics have been around for millions of years and will continue to be, whether we make forms out of them or not.

In September I created a giant chessboard with ceramic chess pieces for the London Design Festival in Trafalgar Square. It was my first art installation that the public could actually play with. Now I’m working on a jewellery store in Kuwait, projects with Bacarrat and designing shoes for Camper. I’m test-driving a pair today!

Working on the new Camper store in Tokyo was a real thrill. I wanted to respect the cleanness of the city, so I created a tiled façade, and a very positive, circus-inspired interior with a lot of colour.

It was a joy to work with the Japanese as they are very precise. They have a great respect for detail, and I live for detail! They apply this to every area of life. To me, the most beautiful thing about Tokyo is the food. It’s about taking the time to do things right. And there’s always a sense of adventure."

Jaime Hayón is an artist and designer.

Photography by Phil Fisk
Art direction by Micha Weidmann
Interview by Malaika Byng

This interview is taken from the official Tokyo Designers Week guide, produced by Dezeen and art directed by Micha Weidmann.

More interviews in this series:

Tokujin Yoshioka
Max lamb
Tom Dixon
Arik Levy
Ilse Crawford
Matthew Hilton
Shigeru Ban

See all our stories about Tokyo Designers Week in our special category.

See all our stories about Jaime Hayón here.

The post Tokyo Designers Week interviews:
Jaime Hayón appeared first on Dezeen.

Tokyo 09: designer Tokujin Yoshioka talks about being a pioneer in this short interview commissioned for the Tokyo Designers Week official guide, produced by Dezeen.

Tokujin Yoshioka - It’s my job as a designer to be a pioneer

“Recycling is not the solution – we need to find ways to stop consuming energy altogether. I’m experimenting with materials and production techniques that have never been seen before, which I hope to show in Milan next year. It’s my job as a designer to be a pioneer.

At the beginning of my career, form was most important to me, but now I care most about human emotions. I like to give people a sense of elation. I have just designed a Camper store in London, featuring a wall covered in folded artificial suede, like blossom. It’s a very positive space and each petal is different, which gives it an ever-changing expression. Senses and emotions are things that can be designed.

I don’t set out to mimic nature; it happens unconsciously. I have an exhibition coming up in Tokyo in 2010 where I’ll be addressing it more directly. I’m also experimenting with crystal again. It’s fascinating the way its facetted surface reflects the light, which creates very energetic and dynamic pieces.

I live and work in Daikanyama-cho, in Shibuya-ku. I created my studio – once my home – out of an old rice warehouse transported from outside Tokyo. I combined the wooden structure, which is 150 years old, with new materials because I like the contrast between old and new. Things with heritage are so interesting because I can’t design them. It’s fascinating to contrast these with new technologies, which make the impossible possible.”

Tokujin Yoshioka runs his own studio Tokujin Yoshioka Design.

Photography by Phil Fisk
Art direction by Micha Weidmann
Interview by Malaika Byng

This interview is taken from the official Tokyo Designers Week guide, produced by Dezeen and art directed by Micha Weidmann.

More interviews in this series:

Max lamb
Tom Dixon
Arik Levy
Ilse Crawford
Matthew Hilton
Shigeru Ban

See all our stories about Tokyo Designers Week in our special category.

More about Tokujin Yoshioka on Dezeen in our special category.

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Tokujin Yoshioka appeared first on Dezeen.