enzo mari and 10,000 million sugi trees. furniture design at the milan design week 2005 ..................................................................................................

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enzo mari and 10,000 million sugi trees http://www.em-hida.jp ‘two years ago.. okada-san, president of the hida sangyo, asked me to ’dream’ a design for his furniture factory set in the middle of the great japanese forest.’ - enzo mari. presented here were the 20 prototypes of furniture of compressed native sugi cypress timber. (they will come into production at the end of the year.) a view of the exhibition. sugi trees that cover japan shown above, the designs below. view of the exhibition. ‘the sugi tree is not really suitable for furniture because it is too soft... special compression techniques are used to give the desired hardness.’ ‘wood knots have a beauty of their own.’ ‘craftsmanship is based on the ability to make.. to invent.. should the skill of craftsman be limited to the obsessive reproduction of shapes of times pastlinked to dead techniques and rituals?... view of the exhibition. table detail. shelves. hall stand. the exhibition enzo mari has drawn a horizon line around the exhibition below the line he exhibits the chairs, tables.. furniture - the earthly values giving form honest form to the material. above the line are images that explain the spiritual values that informed the items below. shaped by the sugi trees that cover japan. ‘there are 200 skilled craftsmen working at the factory... it is vital to lower the production costs (as far as possible) without losing sight of formal and social characteristics... I believe that nowadays such ecology is no less important to man than it is to the forests...’ ‘the spirit of ancient japan... quality can never be reduced to the level of folklore... we all know how these examples have positively influenced modernism.’ syllables. design language can be an alphabet. enzo mari explaining the work to the press. © designboom enzo mari. © designboom white carpet and shoes off at the exhibition. back to milano 05 -------------------------------------- --- ------- monthly designboom newsletter ------- ------- ? comments and contact us ? -------