“nendo : invisible outlines” during Salone del Mobile 2017

The exhibition based on the theme of “extracting the outlines” will show 16 different works for the first time in Europe, among these, 11 works are completely new.

Special collaboration with Alias, Cappellini, Flos, Glas Italia, Jil Sander and Marsott edizioni. Nodus, and Sèvres.

nendo : invisible outlines

We tend to perceive the existence and positioning of objects by subconsciously following “outlines”, and by distinguishing the“inside and outside” of these contours.

This also means that objects with obscure outlines cannot always be identified as objects, and conversely if outlines are visible, that information which is not visible can be subconsciously supplemented.

The exhibition takes this fundamental principle into account, and the following ideas were implemented as a theme. The existence of items are blurred by manipulating outlines in various ways, or the viewers can recognize some existence of an item visually in their minds by making invisible outlines visible.

In total 16 collections were included:

“border table” which presents a fragmented contour of rooms,

“trace collection” capturing “traces” of movement,

“un-printed material”, a piece that portrays various forms and expressions of paper through outline,

“80 sheets of mountains” which features mountain range using outlines with cut and elongated sheet material,

“objectextile” a collaboration project with Jil Sander, where contours of 3D objects are retrieved and turned into textile,　

and “jellyfish vase” a new piece that attempts to reestablish the relationship between vase and water with colour boundaries.

Jil Sander Showroom (Via Luca Beltrami 5 )

April 4th 10.00-17.00 / April 5th -8th 10.00-20.00 / April 9th 10.00-18.00

jellyfish vase

Vases that float like jellyfish in the water. 30 vases of various sizes are placed in a 1800 mm aquarium

filled with water and the strength and direction of the water’s current is carefully adjusted so that they

undulate moderately. The vases are made out of ultrathin transparent silicon that has been dyed twice

to give the impression that what is floating in the water is but a gradated silhouette of colours.

The design was to redefine the conventional roles of flower, water, and vase by making the water

inconspicuous, with an ensemble of both flowers and vases floating inside the filled water, as opposed

to simply showing off flowers in a water-filled vase.

Photo by Akihiro Yoshida