MULTISTANDARD at gallery water presents material experimentations

tokyo’s gallery water presents MULTISTANDARD, an exhibition of experimental work by four designers that rethink the usual presentation of materials, processes, and contexts. the showcase, which forms part of DESIGNART tokyo 2020, brings together projects by daiki tado, sohma furutate, ryota akiyama, and sdanley shen, each which find an interplay between the natural and the man-made. ‘in a society that aims for diversity, the real image of ‘standards’ is not always constant,’ says a statement from the gallery. therefore the exhibition seeks to present sculptural and material possibilities for the diverse scenarios the future may hold.

designboom is in tokyo and has visited ‘MULTISTANDARD’ to document the works on view. see images from our exhibition tour below, and read on for more details about the projects on show.

‘popeye’ by daiki tado
image © designboom

for MULTI-STANDARD at gallery water, the designers — unconstrained by convention — aimed to create works that reflect a diverse society, and update the meaning of ‘harmony’ to incorporate a sense of heterogeneity. for the project ‘roadinary’ by sdanley shen, elements of the urban fabric were sourced from the ground and cityscape to create two lamps and a small stool. meanwhile for ‘BTF’, ryota akiyama adopts traces of construction sites, such as structural beams, to create a series of functional objects.

‘popeye’ by daiki tado
image © designboom

material studies by sohma furutate resulted in ‘raw casting’, a selection of sculptural metal and mesh objects that have been ‘cast’ in place. by pouring a thermosetting resin that reaches 200 degrees during curing, various factors such as heat-sensitive PVC properties produce distorted forms. finally, daiki tado’s project ‘popeye’ sees benches and baskets woven out of a textured material, giving sturdy form to an unconventional medium. see more about the exhibition on gallery water’s site here.

‘popeye’ by daiki tado
image © designboom