so koizumi's intricate brass wind chime embodies fluctuating human emotion

‘seven’ by so koizumi: between stability + anxiety

Tokyo-based designer So Koizumi unveils ‘SEVEN’, a brass wind chime born from an exploration of our emotional transitional states. Revealing a tensegrity structure, the design echoes contemporary society’s unstable climate and the human tendency to drift fleetingly between moments of joy and distress. Drawing on this, the intricate instrument hovers between states of equilibrium and imbalance, motion and inertia, and reverberation and silence to embody human emotion.

‘SEVEN’ boasts a tensegrity structure | all images courtesy of So Koizumi

a balance of tension birthing soft, joyful chimes

Designer So Koizumi describes ‘SEVEN’ as the culmination of an independent project that explores an all-too-familiar theme: ‘Between Stability and Anxiety’. Reflecting on this notion, Koizumi crafts the wind chime out of brass, configuring the elements in perfect balance through a high level of precision. At first glance, the structure appears to be floating and stable, but with the impact of external forces, such as wind, it sways delicately to maintain equilibrium. As this motion is converted into sound by the vibrations and soft chimes of the brass, the tone resonates in space to exude healing and color to daily life.

The project’s title originates from the tensegrity structure, which when viewed from the side, appears as a reversed dual arrangement of the number ‘7’. The title also embodies the wind chime’s precise manufacturing process across seven different Japanese factories.

soft chimes of the brass resonates in space to exude healing

a celebration of fine japanese metalworking 

So Koizumi realizes the instrument by employing the renowned metalworking technologies of Takaoka, of the Toyama Prefecture in Japan, with a manufacturing process characterized by division of labor. The production of ‘SEVEN’ was made possible by the concentration of the collaborative technical capabilities of specialists in various fields such as casting, bending, and welding. This includes the works of Sanomasa factory, which took overall command of the production process.

So Koizumi designs ‘SEVEN’ with a tensegrity structure

with the impact of wind, the wind chime sways delicately to maintain equilibrium

So Koizumi employs the renowned metalworking technologies of Takaoka

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project info:

name: SEVEN
designer: So Koizumi | @so_koizumi_design

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions’ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: ravail khan | designboom