Dezeen Magazine

Nendo designs snaking display for Tokyo tableware exhibition

Japanese studio Nendo presents its Colourful Shadows collection of cooking and eating utensils on a winding table display at Tokyo's Eye of Gyre gallery.

Colourful Shadows by Nendo

The tableware was originally shown inside the Japanese pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015, which was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.

After the Expo closed at the end of October, the items were taken back to Japan to be displayed at the Eye of Gyre gallery in Omotesando.

Colourful Shadows by Nendo

For the new exhibition, the studio designed a 33-metre-long ramp to display the products, which include minimal cutlery, intricately carved chopsticks, and a collection of cups and bowls featuring patterned surfaces

Each of the pieces was made by Japanese artisans and designed in black to encourage visitors to better appreciate their forms.

Colourful Shadows by Nendo

Nendo originally showed the tableware on a slanted black dining table, which created an optical illusion.

Colourful Shadows by Nendo

The table snakes through the various rooms of the gallery, and rests on slender legs placed at regular intervals. Cups, plates and individual pieces of cutlery are lined up in single file to lead visitors through the gallery, and are interspersed with photographs and sketches.

Colourful Shadows by Nendo

"The tabletops were given a thickness of three millimetres to emphasise the floating feeling of the display table," said Nendo. "Likewise the legs, being kept to a minimal number, will hold up on their own as much as possible by leaning at just two points, against the wall and pillars in the gallery."

AT another exhibition the studio held at the Eye of Gyre gallery earlier this year, sketch-like tables appeared to have been drawn onto the contours of the space.

Colourful Shadows by Nendo

The studio also held a solo exhibition during Milan design week to exhibit more than 100 products designed over the past year for 19 different brands.

Colourful Shadows by Nendo

Other projects completed by the studio this year include a timepiece with antique hands for TAG Heuer, a minimal emergency kit for earthquake victims and a collection of cone-shaped stackable slippers.

Photography is by Masaya Yoshimura.