nextmaruni chair, 2005 photo © yoneo kawabe

‘nextmaruni chairs’ by japanese architecture duo SANAA (kazuyo sejima and ryue nishizawa), were presented in designboom’s ‘asia now‘ exhibition held at dwell on design in los angeles.

produced initially in natural birch wood in 2005 by maruni wood industry inc., these elegant, tiny chairs were then released in a wider version in late 2008, and in many nice colors in 2009.

the chair is now part of maruni’s collection, and since 2010 available on the north american market, in california through lola home furniture.

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 2 the color range photo © yoneo kawabe

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 3 nextmaruni chair by SANAA photo © yoneo kawabe

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 4 ‘asia now’ installation view – japanese section image © designboom

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 5 nextmaruni chairs by SANAA image © designboom

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 6 nextmaruni chairs by SANAA image © designboom

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 7 ‘asia now’ installation viewimage © designboom

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 8 graphics illustrated the current production of art, architecture and design in japan. various image panels covered the wall of the japanese section of the ‘asia now’ exhibition. image © designboom

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 9 close-up

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 10 nextmaruni chair, 2005 photo © yoneo kawabe

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 11 nextmaruni chair, 2005 photo © yoneo kawabe

the chairs were originally planned for the interior of SANAA’s ‘house A’ – a residence located in tokyo (2004). you can see more about the architectural project here.

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 12 exhibition info panel

kazuyo sejima is director of ‘people meet in architecture’ the 12th international venice architecture biennale, august 29 – november 21, 2010.

SANAA's nextmaruni chairs at asia now - 13 exhibition panel

recent directors of the venice biennale’s architecture section include: massimiliano fuksas (2000), deyan sudjic (2002), kurt w. forster (2004), richard burdett (2006), and aaron betsky (2008). kazuyo sejima is the first woman to direct the venice architecture biennale, since its inception.