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Breeze from the East There are elements of the two trips to Japan my family made in the early 1980s that I remember particularly well. I developed a fervent affinity for the ever-present noodles, the perfectly manicured gardens with picturesque water features, the state-of-the-art gadgetry, and all the nifty, if unrecognizable, toys. Unlike any other travels, these trips to Japan sparked what became a lifelong interest in the island’s culture. By the time I was in fifth grade my favorite food was sushi; in college my bookshelves were lined with volumes of Tanizaki, Kawabata, and Murakami; and even today—much to the chagrin of my wife, I’m sure—our Netflix queue is loaded with obscure yakuza noir and samurai titles. I’ve never given too much thought to exactly why Japan, and not…

In 1946, architect Eliot Noyes described Charles Eames’s furniture as “a compound of aesthetic brilliance and technical inventiveness,” and we’re inclined to agree with his assessment. But was Eames so brilliant and so inventive that some sixty years later we’re still hung up on his singular approach to form-making? The answer, for now, seems to be a resounding yes. Lama Chaise by Ludovica & Roberto Palomba for Zanotta As this new design in tubular steel and woven PVC proves, Eames’s La Chaise set the gold standard for asymmetrical modern lounge furniture. zanotta.it Piao Paper Chair By Lei + Christoph + Jovana for Innovo Piao may be crafted with the same materials and techniques as traditional Yuhang paper umbrellas, but its scooped shell sings the same tune as the La Fonda…

The Italians have been slow to adopt sustainable design, but Euroluce, Salone’s biannual lighting showcase, was all about the light-emitting diodes. Without bulky bulb housing, today’s new lamps are pushing the boundaries of form. Piani by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec for Flos flos.com Synapse by Francisco Gomez Paz for Luceplan luceplan.com Heracleum by Bertjan Pot for Moooi moooi.com Giò by Angeletti Ruzza for Nemo Cassina nemo.cassina.it Lotek by Javier Mariscal for Artemide artemide.com Maki by Nendo for Foscarini foscarini.it…

The decade du jour has us turning back the clock to the last days of disco, high-gloss glam, pubescent postmodernism, and lots and lots of brass. So dust off your old copy of Aja, and party like it’s 1979. A. Bristol Sofa by Angelo Donghia for Donghia rubelli.com B. Etch Tower by Tom Dixon tomdixon.com C. Favn Sofa by Jaime Hayon for Fritz Hansen fritzhansen.com D. Elisabette Chair by Sam Baron for Casamania casamania.it E. Bågar Shelves by Fredrik Hansson for Brikolör brikolor.com…

Project: Tower Machiya Location: Tokyo, Japan Architect: Atelier Bow-Wow bow-wow.jp In tightly packed Shinjuku, Tokyo, it can be difficult to find respite from the unrelenting thrum of the city. Atelier Bow-Wow looked to the past for an elegant approach to modern overcrowding, incorporating elements of the machiya— a type of centuries-old merchant’s housing characterized by deep lots and narrow street frontages—on this challenging nine-foot-wide lot. They adapted the slim profile and simplicity of the traditional machiya, but introduced a modern steel frame and glass facade and extended the structure upward rather than inward. The spare interior is clad in blond hinoki (Japanese cypress) and a seemingly weightless staircase crescendos to a tea room on the top story.…

New Prospects Architect Jeff Sherman, of Delson or Sherman Architects, has more guts and gall than your average home renovator. In 2000, strapped by a “very finite budget,” he bought a wrecked row house in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, that had been used as an illegal breeding kennel. Over the next ten years, working as his own general contractor and builder, he transformed the scariest building on his block into a high-design home, all for about $100 per square foot. “I’m a little wary of the construction-on-a-dime myth trumpeted in the press,” says Sherman. “Construction is ridiculously expensive. But yeah, I wound up doing a house for next to nothing.” I’ve seen a lot of really bad houses and apartments, because, you know, I’m an architect, but this one was so…

Helsinki Ink As Finland continued its slow recovery from World War II in the early 1950s, textile designer Armi Ratia seized the opportunity to bring hope and optimism to the country–—in the form of brightly colored and boldly patterned fabrics and clothing. From the remnants of her husband Viljo’s oilcloth company, the couple launched Marimekko in 1951. Less than a decade later, Jackie Kennedy graced a December 1960 cover of Sports Illustrated in a pink Marimekko dress, and the company took off, gaining renown for its bright, modern, fashion-forward textiles and clothing. Today, a visit to Marimekko’s 43,0000- square-foot factory in Helsinki reveals that its printing process and emphasis on big, bold patterns–—which continue to bring the company great success–—have changed little over the years. “Screen printing is a tried-and-true…

“Japanese joinery is held up by cabinetmakers worldwide as the pinnacle of what is achievable in woodworking,” says Sean Sutcliffe, cofounder and director of London-based woodworking studio Benchmark. Sutcliffe and designer Tomoko Azumi, who share a fascination for these details, here demonstrate some of Japanese joinery’s extensive repertoire of complex nail- and screw-free wooden connections plus a couple of their own designs for good measure. Together with Rocket Gallery, they have also developed a new table, called Joint, made possible by the techniques. It is a fascinating but secret art, says Azumi: “It’s hidden from view once assembled and most appreciated by people who understand what goes into it.” 1. Seated Dovetail Koshikake-ari-tsugi This dovetail lap joint combines the self-locking quality of the dovetail with the strength of a lap…

1 MIT Media Lab Cambridge, Massachusetts Fumihiko Maki Upon opening last year, the new 163,000-square-foot Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, designed by Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki, was described in the Boston Globe as “the world’s most exquisite building.” Maki’s brief was to create a building at the heart of the institute’s campus that reflected the Media Lab’s unorthodox and pioneering research into emerging technologies on. If the future looks as bright as Maki’s beautifully proportioned spaces, we’ll all be OK. 2 Centre Pompidou-Metz Metz, France Shigeru Ban Shigeru Ban, perhaps most famous for his innovative paper buildings and extraordinary structures to house disaster victims, has had a phenomenal influence in France where he has collaborated with Jean de Gastines since 2000 and set up offices in Paris. The…

Project: Wabi House Architect: Sebastian Mariscal Studio Location: Carlsbad, California When I ask Shino and Ken Mori what the calligraphy hanging in their entry alcove says, it takes some back-and-forth to arrive at the answer—and even then, I suspect, it is only the closest approximation the English language could offer. “‘We don’t have much, but friends are welcome,’” Ken replies. To which Shino adds, “‘This house is empty, that’s why you can get smarter.’” Smarter? “If you don’t have things, you have to think to accomplish things,” Ken explains. “Basically, you don’t have to have much.” And the Wabi House, which architect Sebastian Mariscal designed for the couple three years ago, is, on its face, not much. In fact, from the perfectly ordinary suburban street on which it sits, it’s…

Juli Daoust and John Baker broke the cardinal rule of retail when they opened Mjölk in 2009. “You’re supposed to pick a name people can pronounce,” Daoust says. Instead, the couple chose a moniker that pays homage to Nordic traditions and describes both the Scandinavian and Japanese design aesthetics the shop specializes in. Pronounced “mi-yelk,” mjölk means “milk” in Swedish. “Sweden’s Arla milk packaging has won a number of awards, and its design really stuck with us,” Baker says. “The words that characterize milk are the same ones that describe the two regions’ design aesthetics: pure, simple, sensual.” The store echoes those sensibilities with its crisp interiors and carefully curated items by artists that Daoust and Baker met on scouting trips to Japan and Sweden and its neighbors. Though it…

The May 2011 photo issue made me swell with pride as an architect. It was one of the most sentient and carefully wrought expressions of architecture and design in one publication that I have seen in my nearly 60 years in this profession. All of this was carried through the advertising—-in themselves works of art. Each page required its own personal attention. Architecture does not have to be Gehry-mandered to be exciting and imaginative. I am reluctant to give up my copy, but I must send it to my great-niece who is a New York University graduate in commercial art and is considering study in architecture. This issue is an excellent summary of design vocations for pursuit in art. Harold Seckinger Homosassa, Florida I strongly suggest that you adopt the…

In 2010, Konstantin Grcic scored both Design Miami’s Designer of the Year and Wallpaper’s Furniture Designer of the Year awards, so it was no surprise to find his stock riding high at this year’s Salone del Mobile. Also unsurprising was his refusal to play things safely. If anything, Grcic has used his increased notoriety to push even further afield, offering designs without formal or material precedents, and an unapologetically unordinary approach to aesthetics. “The great thing about contemporary design,” he wrote in his 2005 monograph, “is that it can be interpreted in many different ways —-as many ways as there are individual designers. Some design projects give us the opportunity to go one step beyond the tried and true.” It now seems that Grcic has reached the point in his…

Welcome to the era of post-blobism. As the new items on this page attest, designers are backing away from their computer screens and letting the sawdust fly. While we would be hesitant to call any of these pieces simple, their easily readable exposed structures suggest an honesty of material and form that has been gradually returning to the design world after a decade (or more) of digitally imposed hibernation. With this many rounded-off dowels arranged in almost cartoonlike arboreal compositions (the Foliage sofa’s stitched upholstery takes the metaphor a step further) on view in Milan, expect to see the style filter down to a mall near you over the coming years. 1. Klara Low Tables by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso moroso.com 2. Foliage Sofa by Patricia Urquiola for Kartell kartell.it…

The Japanese are still recovering from the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that struck the country’s eastern coast on March 11. But for many, the tragedy is also serving as a solid motivational driver for change. Innovation isn’t just coming from the government or the Red Cross; in the last few months, we’ve seen amazing examples of engineers, designers, and architects rallying together to devise creative solutions to disaster mitigation. Mere hours after the first tremors hit, Google set up a Picasa Web album of satellite images and a YouTube channel for refugee center volunteers to upload survivor information, then crowdsourced the transcript of their names into a searchable database. Vending machine distributors took out rows of soda and replaced them with buttons that would donate directly to earthquake…

Project: Minna No Ie Location: Tokyo, Japan Architect: Mamm-design mamm-design.com It’s not easy to transform a 15-foot-wide building site—wedged between houses in every direction—into a home that feels more spacious than its location allows. Mamm-design’s solution was to dedicate two-thirds of this tiny 653-square-foot house in Tokyo to a 20-foot-high garden room to bring a sense of the outdoors in. A centrally positioned evergreen ash anchors the airy terrace, which is paved with complementary gray bricks. The kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and workspace are all connected to the central space, transforming the covered veranda into a surrealistic theatrical setting for day-to-day life.…

Now that you’re expected to work from almost anywhere—–your sofa, an airplane, a rickshaw in Kathmandu—–and your “desktop” fits in the palm of your hand, are actual desks still necessary? We thought it over, called in six of our favorites, and came away answering, emphatically, yes! Desks are more than places to park your unopened bills or pound away at your laptop; they are receptacles for your creative dreams, holding the promise of inspiration and focused attention every time you pull up a chair. (And you can’t really say that about the kitchen table.)…

When any room can be a living room, bedroom, dining room, or study, simple, clutter-free, clean living prevails. Everything is portable, partitionable, and highly adaptable in the traditional Japanese house, where rooms can be as large or small as required. And though much is dictated by poetic tradition and a genuine respect for nature, part of the beauty of the Japanese house is its technical efficiency, complete with modular, moving parts. 1. Fusuma Fusuma are sliding doors that run on wooden rails and can be easily moved or removed to create flexible room divisions. Traditionally they are the same size as a tatami mat, made of wood and paper, with a black lacquer border and a clever finger catch. They are often decorated with graphics or scenes from nature. 2.…

Moon Chair by Tokujin Yoshioka for Moroso In the magical hushed atmosphere of a room filled with fog and ethereal light and sound effects, the public first experienced Moon’s simple white cocoon last April. However, for all the literal smoke and mirrors, the seat was born from serious ergonomic research. Its design encourages freedom of movement and shifting sitting positions often. Patan Chair by Tomoko Azumi for Zilio A&C This super-streamlined new dining chair is designed for daily use, but folds away compactly and efficiently, without compromising comfort. For shipping and storage, six folded chairs can fit into the footprint of just one unfolded chair. Manufactured from beech wood, it is available finished or unfinished in four shades. Yumi Lamp by Shigeru Ban for Fontana Arte A barely there arch,…

“Iconic” tends to be an overused adjective when discussing design, but it’s a modifier that Isamu Noguchi’s Akari light series genuinely deserves. These simple paper structures inspired by traditional Japanese lanterns have been so widely copied and distributed that—with a little help from imitations—they’ve never gone out of fashion. American-born and educated Noguchi designed the Akari (which means “light” both in the sense of brightness and weightlessness) in 1951, following several trips to Japan after World War II—a time when, motivated in part by the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and a rising backlash against Japanese Americans in the States, the artist pursued a more political agenda. Along-side his famous glass-topped coffee table for Herman Miller, the Akari was one of a number of projects through which he manipulated…

Project: Japanese House Architect: Konishi Gaffney Architects Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Extended slideshow at dwell.com/magazine “Japanese on the inside and Scottish on the outside” is how architect Kieran Gaffney describes the house that he and his wife and business partner, Makiko Konishi, built for themselves and their three kids in a quiet corner of Edinburgh, Scotland. It’s an apt description: The building’s shape and materials are the sort you find in a modernist residence in the UK, but it’s the unfussy, Japanese interior that reveals a design tailored to this multicultural family. “I suppose that’s the problem with Japan seen from the outside,” says Gaffney, a Scot, of the nation from which Konishi hails and where their family lived from 2004 to 2007. “To the outside world a Japanese restaurant is…

52 My House Jeff Sherman, Delson or Sherman Architects delsonsherman.com Bamboo curtains from Callaloo Company anythingbamboo.com Cedar closet lining used as ceiling cladding from Home Depot homedepot.com Corrugated plastic panels from Lowe’s lowes.com Bamboo plywood for downstairs floors by Smith & Fong Plyboo plyboo.com Copper flashing from Basic Copper basiccopper.com Lexan bulletproof front doors built by Stephen Reinert, Polygon Projects 718-852-4466 Case Study Day Bed and Cigar pendant by George Nelson for Modernica modernica.net LCM chair by Charles and Ray Eames for Vitra dwr.com Kuba rug by Kea Carpets and Kilims keacarpetsandkilims.com Sheesham coffee table from Journey Home journeydumbo.com Painting over mantel by Joyce Kim joycekim.org Marina floor lamp by Rico Espinet for Rico shoprico.com 60 Dwell Reports Trundle Desk by Eric Pfeiffer for Offi & Company offi.com Stash Desk…

Peter Belanger Peter Belanger is a San Francisco–based photographer and regular Dwell contributor who shoots products of all shapes, sizes, and materials. For this month’s Dwell Reports (p. 60), Belanger and his team both assembled and photographed the desks for the shoot, which gave them interesting insights into the design and fabrication of each one in the roundup. Daniel Hennessy Daniel Hennessy is a Los Angeles–based photographer who had the pleasure of shooting a Japanese-inspired, minimalist home nestled in the suburban community of Carlsbad, California (“The Hidden Fortress,” p. 94). “From the outside it looked like a black fortress, but once I stepped in the door it was so tranquil and calming,” he says. “It was such a perfect example of keeping things raw and simple and making your home…

Here’s what’s new in 2011. Bebek Shelf for Marsotto Edizioni This Carrara marble hanging wall shelf consists of two slabs: one square, one round. The “invisible double wedge locking” mount employs a trick from Grcic’s days as a cabinet maker. marsotto-edizioni.com Waver Chair for Vitra Grcic set out to “deliberately use nonconventional armchair typology,” turning to high-performance sporting equipment like that used in windsurfing for inspiration instead. vitra.com Cape Chair (and Sofa) for Established & Sons Cape’s informal dropcloth vibe is as cheeky as it comes. We’re inclined to forgo the expense, and re-create this piece with a nice new blanket and that old sofa from Goodwill. establishedandsons.com Tom & Jerry Stools for Magis For all his intellectual headiness, Grcic here offers a simple solution for a simple problem. “Self…

THE GENTLEMAN Lightwood Chair by Jasper Morrison for Maruni There are few finer chairs than those produced by Japanese maker Maruni, whose levels of craftsmanship and woodworking technology are hard to top. Morrison again offers an update of the archetypal cafe chair, but these beauties will do equally well in any home. maruni.com THE NATURAL Osso Chair by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec for Mattiazzi Produced from locally harvested, chemical-free hardwoods, and fabricated with high-tech CNC equipment in a solar-powered facility, this new curvilinear chair deserves the organic label as much as those grass-fed veal shanks at your farmers’ market. mattiazzi.eu THE HUG Wolfgang Chair by Luca Nichetto for Fornasarig It may be made in Italy and designed by an Italian, but Wolfgang has Scandinavian roots. Nichetto set up shop in…

The wiki offers a wealth of useful design ideas for disaster areas, using easy-to-access tools and materials. olive.for.us Plastic Bottle Dish Fine china might be the first thing to fall apart in a quake. Plastic bottles, however, are ubiquitous, and can be easily turned into durable dishes. By trimming off the mouth, then slicing the entire vessel lengthwise, you’ll end up with two stackable plates. Cardboard Baby Sofa A secure seat can be made with an intact cardboard box. Make a cut that runs along the top of the box, around the fold, and about halfway down the side, then make another identical parallel score. Depress the space in between for an instant infant easy chair. Reinforced Waterproof Shoe Lend your footwear some extra support against the elements. After wrapping…

Project: Katsura Imperial Villa Location: Kyoto, Japan sankan.kunaicho.go.jp The sprawling 16-acre Katsura Imperial Villa was commissioned in the 17th Century by a pair of father-son princes, and attributed to a cadre of craftsmen and consultants. Though its rich architectural language—a polychrome of woods, wallpapers, decorative plasterwork, and swooping roofs—is more resplendent than restrained, its geometric sensibility and modular construction easily aligned with the ideals of 20th-century modernists. German architect Bruno Taut was perhaps the first Westerner to express his esteem for its “harmonious simplicity” in a 1933 diary entry, while Walter Gropius, who visited Katsura in 1954, wrote to Le Corbusier, “All what we have been fighting for has its parallel in old Japanese culture.” Visitors can still saunter through manicured gardens, peer into traditional tea houses, perch atop the…

For architect Pieter Weijnen of Amsterdam firm Faro, building his own low-energy home (featured in our July/August 2008 issue) was just the start. A year later, he broke ground on a new home for himself, partner Renske Felkema, and their children, Puck and Finn. House 2.0, located on the manmade archipelago of IJburg, fine-tunes the design of the first house, but it goes further in energy efficiency and sustainability: “It’s a passive house,” says Weijnen. “We’ve got the biggest triple-glazed window in the Netherlands and a geothermal heating ex change system. There is a wood-burning stove; a rainwater tank; and–—a bit unusual for the city–—a wind turbine on the roof.” Add to this a whole tree used instead of a girder, adobe walls instead of plaster, and a charred-wood facade,…

According to the principles of biophilia, environments that echo the tendencies of nature promote more efficient learning, working, and recuperating. In Japan, where nature, spirituality, and mankind have long been intertwined, one of their most basic design building blocks—–the tatami mat—–typifies a kind of ingrained biophilic approach. The smell of a newly laid tatami room is an interior equivalent of a freshly cut lawn. Then there’s the feel underfoot: firm enough to walk across, yet bouyant enough to sleep on. Invented over a millennia ago during the Heian period, when court nobility were seated according to their rank, the mats would vary according to height and material to indicate status. By the Muromachi period (roughly the same era as the Renaissance in Europe), tatami had evolved into a fairly standard…

1. The Little Things Japan has a wonderful sense of respect for daily life. From the moment you enter a house, you notice that the floor level of the entrance is lower than the rest of the house by the height of a shoe and is normally made of stone. The material is a continuation of the outside, bringing the essence of the outdoors in. And the lower height means that your shoes can be slipped off and kept out of sight. 2. Carefree Byways There is an old saying in Japan that you don’t have to pay for air and security. So you don’t have to worry if you forgot to lock your door when you left in the morning, or worry about locking your bike to nip into…

Bench Nobody would describe this bench as good looking, yet it has a certain charm, and maybe charm is more important than looks. The bench was outside a railway station restaurant in the Japanese countryside. From a design point of view, there’s plenty to admire. It exhibits a determined conceptual rigor, as if its maker thought, I’ll make this bench from a single log of wood five-feet long, without using any screws, and it will be strong enough for an elephant and heavy enough to survive a typhoon. The structure has been planned to make the most of a few basic cuts, so the flat sides are used for the seat (for comfort) and the base (for stability). Its character is cheerful and welcoming, and it has obviously earned its…

Project: Almost House Architects: Susanne Pini and John Wilkin Location: Annandale, Australia Perhaps it’s the temperate breeze rustling the gum trees or the charming older homes, but time seems languid in Annandale, one of Sydney’s oldest suburbs. Modest workers’ housing from the early 20th century nestle chummily together along streets scented with fragrant frangipani blooms. Dating from the early 1900s, Annandale cottages are known for their Victorian and Federation-era embellishments. But the one architects John Wilkin and Susanne Pini purchased in 2000 was botched by a heavy-handed 1970s renovation that stripped away its historic features, so the couple opted to treat the building like a blank slate. By keeping the existing shell intact while drawing from building traditions of the Far East, Wilkin and Pini added their own take on…

Truck Yaro, a Japanese film from 1975, inspired real-life long-haulers to decorate their vehicles in the same “gorgeous, sometimes tacky,” Kabuki-meets-Las-Vegas style. It’s still common to see the rigs transporting seafood through rice paddies across the country, and for artist Tatsuro Kiuchi, this view embodies the essence of Japan.…