Nendo
It even sounds cool. Nendo. Fortunately, Nendo isn’t just bluff, it backs up the name with a catalogue of work over two decades that is amazingly diverse. From product design to architecture, exhibition design to furniture. A lot of designers use the term ‘multidisciplinary’ but few are as expansive as Nendo and importantly, few maintain the incredible consistency of sheer awesomeness (is ‘awesomeness’ a word?) over years.
Nendo furniture, mimicking water-colour on paper. 2018.
Chief Designer and CEO, Oki Sato, Nendo is based on Tokyo, Japan (and has an office in Milan, Italy) and leverages off the history of Japanese designers melding design disciplines. Historically companies like Sony and Nintendo have managed to blend product and object; useful technology devices becoming cultural artefacts. Sony’s Walkman in 1980’s and Nintendo’s 64 and Switch consoles both managed to be engaging and functional at the same time. The act of ‘play’ somehow manages weave these devices together and Nendo maintains this thread.
House in Tokyo, by Nendo. 2020.
I looked up the meaning of the word Nendo and definition words like ‘clay’ popped up on the search result. In more searching, Nendo is also a Japanese character that looks like a delinquent but is actually nice. If these searches are correct then l think l now understand a little more of Nendos’ values; ideas that evolve and change shape (like clay), looking initially strange (like a delinquent) but are actually playful and engaging.
Between Two Worlds exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), 2019.
Like Dieter Rams, Nendos’ work is singularly elegant though what differentiates Nendo from Rams is that Nendos’ work is perhaps more expressive and less function driven. Nendo fortunately has had the benefit of technological advances in materials and manufacturing techniques that Rams could only dream of. Nendo has managed to work across a huge spectrum of mediums (like architecture and product) whereas Rams more product based. Nendo’s 2019 Between Two Worlds exhibition at Melbourne’s NGV (National Gallery of Victoria) illustrates their connection to a historic lineage of design (in this case, MC Escher) with being bound by it. Their work is clearly Japanese but feels international. It looks familiar without having ‘seen it all before’.
What is a cup? Book by Nendo. 2018.
Objects from ‘Not Just A Cup’ book by Nendo, 2018.
Since 2002, Nendo has created an exquisite body of work. This work, has a graphic-ness but also a process drives all Nendo designs. This design methodology was captured in their childrens book called ‘Not just a cup’ and illustrates Nendo’s focus on free forming ideas and morphing into outcomes that otherwise would be unimaginable; at times, playful, silly, unusable, sculptural and importantly, different. I think the celebration of ‘difference’ is what makes Nendos’ work refreshing and optimistic. They use a known design vernacular (or visual language) yet somehow still make the outcomes surprising. Delightful.
SW.