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Opening Reception: November 8, 6-8pm
scatter shelf is a second gallery exhibition conceived by Japanese architecture and
design group, nendo, opening on November 8, 6-8pm at 515 West 26th Street.
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 pleatsmaking
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.
For more information, please contact:
Jennifer Olshin, Director
jennifer@friedmanbenda.com
Alice Higgins
alice@friedmanbenda.com
www.friedmanbenda.com
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