In the last ten years, Nendo has produced more than 200 designs, in a creative spectrum that spans from glass to furniture, lamps, carbon-fibre seating and even modular systems. I, personally, am fascinated by the Land of the Rising Sun but, to their credit, it has to be said that Nendo has even come up with a good design for an air purifier (Arobo). With two exhibitions which inaugurated in Paris a month ago — at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery and the Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier —, recent shows at the High Museum in Atlanta and the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and forthcoming exhibition designs at the Salone del Mobile for, among others, Bisazza, Lasvit, Moroso, Kme and new Singaporean brand K%, Nendo — which, in Japan, is the name of the modelling clay children play with — is analysing its creativity.
Sato feels especially close to Milan, home to the studio's second office since 2005, both the city where Nendo had their first successes and the undisputed temple of design. This is where we meet. The smiling Oki Sato is tall, slender, in a buttoned-up checkered shirt. He holds out a featherweight visiting card, and is always on the phone when not speaking to me.
Oki Sato: I have always loved experimenting. My non-stop research focuses on combining seemingly contrasting materials and applying specific techniques to unusual materials not suited to them. I try making new things and am always on the lookout, spending all my earnings on new trials. Sometimes companies throw me out because they are sick of my constant experimenting. We spend our whole budget on it and 90% of my experiments end in disaster. [Author's note: it would be better if the percentage reflected that of the latest collection!]. I always wonder what might happen if I used this material with the methods of that company. I try things out, often impulsively, but my incessant research is well reflected in the black&white collection presented by De Pury.
It is a different matter when we exhibit in museums and galleries, which are not the corporate world. Usually, in such cases, there is no problem of budget and we have more freedom. We always end up exhibiting an unfinished product…
The Trial and Error exhibition showcases new prototypes, limited editions and hybrids of both limited editions and mass-produced design, such as the new 1% products collection
Precisely. There is always something to change or add in a design.
What inspires you?
I find inspiration for what I do every day or, rather, I find inspiration in the everyday world. I like to understand how people react to objects or a design. The way we respond to things in the world is important. It is easy to paint a chair red but it is harder to say something special about it. Just a few gestures can change the way things are perceived. I can point a light at the red chair or look at it through coloured glasses. I change the colour and the mood but it is still the same chair. Things can be interpreted subjectively. I am for the emotional interpretation of things.
I admit I am not hugely interested in the standard dynamics of the art world nor am I drawn to it but it certainly offers the chance to show something unfinished and present raw ideas that can, perhaps and potentially, evolve and become something else. When I design for Moroso or Cappellini I have to stick to certain precepts and am happy to do so. I have to understand whether my product is right and works. I can have no doubts or questions about what design to put forward. More specifically, I must not ask myself "what is a chair?" as you do with museums and galleries. The answer is easy and my design must only and totally be a chair, not an interpretation of this object. You also have to follow the dictates of the market and if possible achieve an end price that puts people in a position to buy it.
I can understand the confusion! The studio was founded in 2002 by Akihiro Ito and me. I operate on the creative side; I visit the clients and I am the designer. He takes care of the contracts and tallies the figures. He is the baddie and I am the goodie! Another four designers work with us.
How many projects do you have in development right now?
Lots, fortunately! More than 200 scattered around the world, many interior ones in Asia and several product designs in Europe. I am fussy and I always want to be in control. Luckily I have good assistants.
There are about 30 of us in the Tokyo office and it is near Shibuya station. We chose this location because it is easy to get out of the city from there. It is a nerve centre and I can catch trains and planes easily.
Anecdote: what is the first thing that springs to mind when you think of your country?
I love working in Japan. I have worked with great masters such as Issey Miyake and it was a fascinating experience. I made the Cabbage Chair for him, a fun project! One evening, he called me and said he had stacks of paper to get rid of or destroy but he didn't want to throw it all away. He asked me what to do, so I went to see him and started cutting the paper into strips. I brought it all together roughly [Author's note: as he says, unfinished] and showed him what for me was just a rough idea of a chair, to which he exclaimed, "Splendid, leave it here! I think it is perfect." I told him it looked like a cabbage but that is the way he wanted it, hence the name.
When I find the right balance between costs and function and, when I do, I am happy!
For ten years, you have been a much-loved, sought-after, pampered and acclaimed designer. What is your concrete and precise definition of Nendo's design?
(Laughing) I think I will answer by pointing out the name of my studio, which means modelling clay. Most of all, my design is versatile. I have a lightweight approach to design and I try to apply this concept to all the object types I design. Unquestionably, ten years teach you things and now I have learnt how to develop my designs.
It is the home of design. The large companies that have passion and are willing to invest are in Italy; the great masters are and have been here. Other places are more concerned with the market and costs, and less with creativity. I am surprised there are not more good design schools and museums. If you want to be a designer, you have to get to know Italy and Italian design.
The Venice Biennale and an installation at the V&A for the next London Design Festival.
You are curating the exhibition. What is the title?
Yes, I did the exhibition concept. We will present five or six collections but we are still working on it. We shall present ongoing, unfinished objects (smiles). The title chosen, Trial and Error, speaks of my constant experimentation and the resulting mistakes. But the exhibition will not be all about the mistakes.
Nendo. Trial and error
from April 17 to April 22
Palazzo Visconti
Via Cino del Duca 8, Milano