Jo Nagasaka: Take Kago

Bamboo is a traditional material for basketry.

By combining bamboo with contemporary materials, Jo Nagasaka designed for Ichiro a collection of lightweight furniture, realized with simple methods without any elaborate techniques of traditional craftsmanship.

The collection was presented during Milan Design Week at Spazio Rossana Orlandi.

In "To The Lighting", traditionally bamboo and paper are combined to make a lighting fixture. In this work, bamboo and paper are clearly separated to create a two-way lighting fixture: one way is to illuminates upwards in an indirect way; another way is to illuminate downwards directly, which would be used for dining areas. In addition, it can also be used for floor lighting by adjusting position of the light bulb. This lighting fixture can be adjusted to illuminate diverse activities.

"To The Bench" transforms a bamboo basket into a bench by dipping it into rubber coating to make it strong enough to sit on. In addition, the rubber coating smooths out fine splits on the bamboo surface, which makes it easier to sit on. This is a very lightweight bench that generates various activities.

In "To The Low Table" a steric weaving method was applied to create bumpy surfaces and cast coloured epoxy resin over them. The bumps generate different shades of colours to create beautiful effects on the sides of the table. This is Nagasaka’s first challenge to cast epoxy resin on vertical surfaces.

Take Kago
Design: Jo Nagasaka (Schemata Architects)
Producer: Ichiro