Scatter Shelf is a second gallery exhibition conceived by Japanese architecture and design group, nendo.
In signature nendo style, thirty-five identical scatter shelves are conceived within a greater interior landscape. Arranged in a maze with modular units, nendo’s intentional redundancy of form invites new perspectives on how we relate to our environment.
When viewed from the front, scatter shelf appears to be a single plane comprised of numerous, tightly packed shelves and vertical panels. From different vantage points, the confined spaces reveal increased volume and movement by way of its displaced grid composition. Glossy, black opaque acrylic appears transparent as it throws reflections within the shelves, scattering and separating the view with kaleidoscopic effect. According to Oki Sato, nendo’s founder, scatter shelf creates a visual effect in which objects placed on shelves appear as though caught in a spider’s web.
Ghost Stories, the group’s New York debut exhibition presented forty Cabbage Chairs. The Cabbage Chair was a piece first conceptualized in 2008 for Issey Miyake’s groundbreaking exhibition, XXIst Century Man. With Cabbage Chair, nendo answered Miyake’s challenge to consider ‘how things will be made in the 21st century.’ Cabbage Chair utilized waste-bound materials from Miyake’s pleats-making process and addressed the contemporary concerns with mounting global consumption and environmental stress.
nendo stands for ‘clay’ in Japanese; a motto for being free formed, flexible and adaptable in the design scene. Founded in Tokyo in 2002, with a second office established in Milan in 2005, nendo has received many distinctions, including the ‘red dot design award’ in Germany, 2008 and was named as one of the ‘Top 100 Small Japanese Companies’ by Newsweek Magazine, 2007. This past summer, nendo presented Visible Structures, a solo commission for the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA. Visible Structures was also included in Modern by Design, a collaborative exhibition between the High Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.
Works by nendo are included in the permanent collections of the 21_21 Design Sight, Tokyo, Japan; Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, NY; Design Museum, Holon, Israel; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Mondriaan Foundation, Netherlands, Museum of Art and Design, New York; Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Musée des Art Décoratifs, Paris, France; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK.
About Nendo
Founded in Tokyo in 2002, with a second office established in Milan in 2005, nendo has received many distinctions, including the Iconic Design Award ‘Interior Designer of the Year’ in 2015, Wallpaper* Magazine’s ‘Designer of the Year’ in 2012, and the ‘Red Dot Design Award’ in Germany in 2008. In 2011, nendo presented Visible Structures, a solo commission for the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA. Visible Structures was also included in Modern by Design, a collaborative exhibition between the High Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.
Works by nendo are included in the permanent collections of the 21_21 Design Sight, Tokyo, Japan; Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, NY; Design Museum, Holon, Israel; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Indianapolis Museum of Arts, IN; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; M+ Museum, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China; Museum of Art and Design, NY; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX; Musée des Art Décoratifs, Paris, France; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada; Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA; Triennale Design Museum, Milan, Italy; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, among others. nendo’s first-ever large-scale retrospective opened at the Design Museum Holon, Israel in June 2016.
