NENDO – 50 Manga Chairs

Nendo designs 50 chairs for Friedman Benda
During Milan design week 2016 (12-17 April 2016)
The Facoltà Teologica dell’Italia settentrionale (Piazza Paolo VI, 6)

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The installation of stainless steel chairs, Nendo draws a comparison between manga comics and furniture design.

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With this exhibition, Nendo abstracts archetypes of manga comics. The chairs are happy, distressed, embarrassed, surprised; they leap and bound, zoom past, or slowly slink away. Each chair has its own personality, allowing it to stand on its own or, when placed next to the others, to become part of a collective narrative. A different configuration creates a different story. The chairs come alive in a symphonies display of bend’s playful Japanese design.

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During the day time, the black and white flooring reflects on the mirrored finish of 50 chairs.

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Manga is a means of expression with a high degree of flatness and abstraction, and which is composed of a series of lines. We could say that manga comics are deeply rooted in Japanese culture, since they can be traced back to Ukiyoe prints developed during the Edo period (1603-1868 A.D.).This installation of 50 manga chairs is the result of adapting the strong symbolic nature of manga comics to furniture design.Manga consist of a series of frames on a single sheet of paper that creates a sequence. Similarly, 50 standard chairs are lined up in a grid, each one conjures up a sense of story, and each with a design element from manga. For example, a “speech bubble” or “effect line” are added to visualize sound or action. Or emotional symbols from manga, like “sweat” or “tears”, are formed so that a sense of story and character can be felt. With the abstraction of manga comics in mind, physical aspects such as colour and texture are intentionally avoided as much as possible. Instead, a complete mirror finish is opted for, which generates new spatial layers as the mirror surface reflects the real world, just like manga does.

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During the night, the edge around the display square and each chairs are illuminated by spotlit.

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The carpeted black covered from floor and extending into the arcades, makes products outstanding on the white granules stone. Left out the old arches, colonnades and stucco of the Chiostro Minore di San Simpliciano had been seen clearly. The contrast from installation which raises both admirable beneficial mutually.

All images & info. courtesy of Nendo.jp photo by Takumi Ota

 

 

 

 

 

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