Spoon & Tamago

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Concert For Japan

April 8, 2011 / Johnny / Comments Off

Beginning tomorrow (Saturday April 9th) at 11:00 am EST is Concert For Japan, a 12-hour charity concert hosted by our very own Japan Society in New York! The concert features performers such as Philip Glass, Lou Reed and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Although tickets for the gala are already sold out, the concert will be projected on screens both inside and outside the building and will stream live on UStream.

Also of note is Luminous Washi Lantern, a site-specific architectural installation by New York-based architect and RISD professor Aki Ishida. Designed in collaboration with RISD students, the project will be accompanied by an ongoing workshop to teach visitors how to fold paper pieces that will be added to the installation.

image courtesy RISD

Milano Salone del Mobile 2011 | Nendo

April 8, 2011 / Johnny / Comments Off

Perhaps one of the busiest and most sought-after designers in Japan right now, design agency Nendo will unveil 2 new pieces at Milano’s Salone del Mobile. The translucent table and translucent light both use acrylic to explore dimensions of opacity and transparency. The table relies on two different versions – dark and light – to convey the different optical effects, which work to hide and reveal the manufactured wood grain.

On the other hand, the transparent light – light shade, actually – relies on it being turned on or off to present different levels of opacity.

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Salone del Mobile 2011
04.12.2011 – 04.17
9.30 a.m. – 6.30 p.m

Related:

Nendo at Milano Salone del Mobile 2010

Milano Salone del Mobile 2011 | Tomoko Azumi

April 8, 2011 / Johnny / Comments Off

UK-based Japanese designer Tomoko Azumi of TNA Design Studio will unveil a couple of pieces this year at the 50th anniversary of Milano’s Salone del Mobile.

First is Patan, a set of compact dining room chairs that were designed for Italian furniture company Zilio A&C. Contrary to their graceful form, the chairs fold up and stack together, allowing them to be easily stored away.

Reworking a previous design from 2008, the designer will also unveil Tra-ra, a light-weight yet robust coat stand that, like the Patan chairs, is collapsible.

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Salone del Mobile 2011
04.12.2011 – 04.17
9.30 a.m. – 6.30 p.m

Related:

Tomoko Azumi at Salone de Mobile 2010

OLIVE poster

April 7, 2011 / Johnny / Comments Off

Remember OLIVE, that wiki DIY survival guide I wrote about a while back? Well it’s traveled quite the distance since then. Despite all it’s brilliance, the one major flaw of the site was that it relied on the internet as a means for getting information into the hands of evacuees. But a man who runs a publishing company heard about it and decided to publish it in a foldout. Thousands of copies were then packaged into boxes and were delivered to evacuees in disaster-stricken areas. It was also featured on NHK, along with an interview with its founder, the Japanese designer Nosigner, who has now designed a poster for the project.

click to enlarge
When combined, the posters form numerous hinomaru (aka the Japanese flag). The above image is 8 posters combined. What I love about the poster, and what sets it apart from the many that have been designed in the past, is that it embodies the idea of holding hands and coming together to form one.

The project has grown in size and now contains over 100 survival tips contained in just under 20 different categories, in 4 different languages.

PS here is the DIY guide I contributed in English and Japanese

Listen: Japan Earthquake/Tsunami PSA

April 5, 2011 / Johnny / Comments Off

Hazuki Aikawa and Andrey Alistratov of Noka Productions, a Brooklyn-based media production company, have created a short video to raise awareness – outside of Japan – of the recent earthquake and tsunami. In “Listen,” random people in New York City were selected to listen to sound bites that were taken from broadcasts and home videos of the tsunami. Their reactions were recorded.

To me, what’s interesting about this project is that this was the first time a natural disaster such as this one was documented by cell phones and portable cameras on a mass scale. New videos – whether it was ship crew recording the wave as it approached, or documentation of reclaimed land being liquefied – were popping up on youtube every day. But the intentional removal of all images is actually a much more straight and direct way to get people to imagine the earthquake, as opposed to just watching it.

(thanks K)

Red Eclipse by Takeshi Miyakawa

April 3, 2011 / Johnny / 3 Comments

images courtesy t. miyakawa | click to enlarge

Brooklyn-based Japanese designer Takeshi Miyakawa just announced that he has completed “Red Eclipse.” The table, which – from afar – appears to be a complete Japanese flag, is actually composed of a large, red void encapsulated by the rest of the table.

The designer plans to create only 10 tables, which will be sold for $1000 each. Extracting costs for the material (10%), all other proceeds will go towards the earthquake relief effort. If you are interested, get in touch with him via his website.

While simplistic in form, the bold and powerful design captures the energy of the earthquake, as well as emptiness and sadness we all feel for those we lost. It’s really a beautiful table.

(thanks masako)

Related:

Takeshi Miyakawa Design

forest xylophone and Touch Wood SH-08C

April 2, 2011 / Johnny / 3 Comments

This is a commercial that was filmed for NTT Docomo’s Touch Wood SH-08C wooden-encased phone. It was created by Morihiro Harano of Drill Inc. and, according to this Times blog post, the sounds are all authentic. And as far as I’m concerned, no CGI either. Forest xylophone (the Japanese title of the video) features a wooden ball that simply relies on the forces of gravity to carry it down the extensive xylophone as it plays Bach’s Cantata 147.

The phone itself – crafted from hinoki wood thinnings from Nakatoso in Kochi prefecture, rendering each unit unique in both color and grain – was produced by my friends at Rightning Inc.

The first shipment of the 15,000 limited edition phones went on sale March 18th and, less than 2 weeks later, Rightning was happy to report that the first batch – all 2000 of them – had sold out. More shipments will be coming in but due to the special processing of the wood they are unable to mass-produce the phones. Therefore, they will be supplied in increments.

Beautiful phone. Beautiful commercial. Congratulations to all involved!

(thanks K!)

Related:

Designer workspaces

April 1, 2011 / Johnny / 1 Comment

Ever wanted a Selby-esque peek into the workspaces of the creative folk we feature here on Spoon & Tamago? JAGDA (Japan Graphic Designers Association) has recently ventured into the lagoon and returned with some photographic evidence of where all this great work gets done.

Takafumi Ikeda of Design Service
view gallery

Masaaki Hiromura of Hiromura Design Office
view gallery

Masahiro Nojima of Rockets
view gallery

Masayuki Terashima of Terashima Design Office
view gallery

Katsunori Aoki of Butterfly Stroke
view gallery

Tsuchinoko MV by Gaka

March 31, 2011 / Johnny / Comments Off

I love this new music video by Gaka, a 16-piece Japanese instrumental band. The video was created by visual design unit Rakuda-san and can best be described as a large-scale group pantomime.

The name of the song is Tsuchinoko, and undoubtedly refers to the mythical snake-like creature that can be spotted at the end of the video as projectile vomit.

via Creative Review

Nippon Vision 4

March 31, 2011 / Johnny / 2 Comments

Have you ever wished that someone would put together a “best of” exhibition of Japanese design? I know I have and now I know someone was listening. Nippon Vision 4, which opens April 6th at Isetan Department Store in Shinjuku, survey’s all 47 prefectures in Japan, carefully selecting designs that were hand-crafted in that prefecture and sourced from local materials.

The theme of the show is 4, which indicates the 4 major categories of design that will be of central focus: accessories, clothing, food and home.

Broom and dustbin from Kumamoto.
Designed by Toshinobu Takamitsu of Open Studio.

Hat tip to Kenmei Nagaoka of D&Department, who did a fantastic job curating the show.　These are a few of our picks but be sure to check out their beautiful website for the full lineup.

Brass pot rests from Toyama.
Produced by Futagami and designed by Masanori Oji.

Ring Ultra and Earrings Leaf from Aichi.
They were made from heat-resistant glass such as what’s used to make test-tubes. Designed by Yoko Yano.

Kitchen scissors from Hyogo
Hand-crafted by TAjiKA, a group of artisans who have passed down the art of scissor-making for 4 generations.

Tea Caddy from Kyoto
Made by Kaikado, who has been making tin canisters since 1875.

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Nippon Vision 4
Isetan Department Store in Shinjuku, 6th floor (Gmap)
4.6.2011 – 4.11
10:00am – 8:00pm (closes at 4pm on final day)
Free