Chair, '21400 mm chair', Thin Black Lines collection designed by nendo (Oki Sato) and manufactured by Ochiai-Seisakusho Co. Ltd, steel, 2010

A chair of black-coated tubular steel rods, welded. Its structure is composed of a thin tubular steel L-shaped frame, which forms the back and bottom of the chair. The frame is slightly larger at the bottom and is gently concave along the back. Onto the frame are seamlessly welded thin black-coated steel rods that run parallel from one side to the other in an oblique manner. At knee height, the rods of the back protrude horizontally, before tilting again at a right angle at the front to form the seat. On the sides, the rods are welded to run vertically fromm the bottom up to knee height, shaping the orthogonal volume of the chair. The jutting and bending of the rods in contiuous, geometric lines create interesting optical effects.

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Purchased by the Outset Design Fund

Purchased by the V&A in 2011 (acquisition registered file no. 2011/536).
The Thin Black Lines collection was exhibited in London 2011 at Philips de Pury and the Saatchi Gallery, where it was received with acclaim by the press. This chair was considered the flagship design for the series. Other pieces from the collection include armchairs, hanger-racks and mirrors; everyday objects designed to ‘traverse at times the space between two and three dimensions’

Oki Sato, chief designer of nendo, is widely recognised as one of the most inventive design practitioners in the world. The name of the company means ‘clay’ in Japanese; Oki Sato chose this name because it reflects his ‘yearning for malleability’ in his practice. The statement of belief behind nendo’s designs is to unveil the ‘small “!” moments hidden in our everyday.’ When designing the Thin Black Line Series, Oki Sato drew inspiration from Japanese calligraphy and a love of ordinary objects.

No 1 of edition of 8

This limited-edition chair by nendo is made from bent and welded powder-coated steel. It was manufactured in collaboration with Ochiai-Seisakusho, a Tokyo-based company that specialises in precision metalwork. It is designed to appear as a drawn outline of a standard chair. The ‘morphing’ nature of the 21400mm chair, its visually changeable quality, is very arresting, and requires the viewer to observe it carefully to perceive the functional object.

W.28-2011