NICHETTO=NENDO exhibition at milan design week 2013

designers luca nichetto and oki satoimage © designboom

designboom met with luca nichetto and oki sato during the photo shoot of their first collaborative project ‘NICHETTO=NENDO’. having just been introduced to each other in 2012 during tokyo design week, they took the creative process engaged in when writing  ‘tanka’–a genre of japanese poetry in which one person composes the first three lines (kami no ku) of the prose, and then sends them to a second individual who completes the final two lines (shimo no ku) of the composition–as their impetus, and thus began their back and forth dialogue–across time zones–on what they would make together.

designboom spoke with the prolific young designers and asked them what sparked the project, the pieces they ended up developing and what they like most about each others’ work.  

NICHETTO = NENDO: an interview with luca nichetto and oki satovideo © designboom

the conception of the seven piece collection: ‘N=N/01shelves in a comic’; ‘N=N/02 wedge of matter’ candleholder; ‘N=N/03′ paper ice cream’ lamps; ‘N=N/04 trellis bandaged’ room divider; ‘N=N/05 bridges for islands’ sofa; ‘N=N/06 fish skin on the roof’ carpet; and ‘N=N/07 stool, is a result of their mutual respect for one another, an equal expression of their individual creative approaches resulting in a cohesive family of furniture products.

a comic tale of how ‘NICHETTO=NENDO’ came to bevideo by designboom with images © nendo and luca nichetto

the self-initiated project was supported by a number of the manufacturers and suppliers which luca and oki have worked with previously, who willingly offered to produce the one-off pieces for presentation during milan design week 2013 at foro buonaparte, 48 from april 9th-14th, 2013.

‘NICHETTO=NENDO’ collectionphoto by hiroshi iwasaki

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the realization of the seven designs has been possible thanks to:casamania, discipline, foscarini, glas italia, glip, innofa, kadowaki coating, ochiai-seisakusho, ogeborg, oikos, tangiguci aoya washi, testi fratelli and vertigo metals.