nendo reimagines natural phenomena with 'whispers of nature' exhibition

whispers of nature by nendo lands at paola lenti showroom

nendo lands at the Paola Lenti showroom in Milan to showcase a solo exhibition of five new product collections during this year’s design week. Dubbed Whispers of Nature, the project spotlights natural phenomena that are often overlooked in everyday life: the ambiguity of clouds, the relationship between light and shadow, the flow of time perceived underground or during a passing rain, and plants soaked in water. Through this concept, nendo founder Oki Sato explains to designboom how he seeks to unravel a new perspective for visitors. ‘If people can find a new hint, just enjoy seeing things in a different light, they will notice just how interesting our boring, everyday life becomes. And I think that is a true luxury.’

nendo founder Oki Sato | image © designboom

celebrating the beauty of the ordinary

Whispers of Nature by nendo (see more here) began with the brand’s longstanding commitment to uncovering subtle hints hidden in the ordinary and natural phenomena of everyday life, transforming them into a distinctive aesthetic appreciation of nature specific to Japanese culture. Oki Sato even borrows inspiration from his own daily habits: wearing the same clothes and shoes, walking his dog on the same streets, and having a coffee at the same cafe. ‘I like to repeat things,’ he tells us. ‘And by repeating things, I notice the small differences that really inspire me.’ Beyond the beauty of repetition and small things, nendo also celebrates the power of unchanging beauty, and how nature persists even in the face of social and environmental change.

Whispers of Nature exhibition at Paola Lenti in Milan | image © designboom

revealing five collections inspired by natural phenomena

The solo exhibition breaks down into five product collections. The first one, Clustered Clouds, is a series of translucent shelves resembling hazy cloud formations. According to Sato, this design range represents the ordinary phenomenon of perceiving clouds from a distance and from within. These formations look like white volumes from afar, but as one passes through them, especially in an airplane, clouds become hazy, translucent landscapes. This ambiguity between ‘volume’ and ‘haze’ is therefore interpreted as a ‘cluster of translucency’, leading to the design of the shelves.

Cluster of Clouds | image © designboom

Next is Light and Shade, a collection of mold and cast that recreates the relationship between illumination and darkness. Light creates shadows; conversely, it can be said that shadows allow the perception of light. nendo expresses this complementarity through a similar relationship between mold and cast. Normally, the cast is the object of interest and the mold is hidden from the audience. But in this product range, at Paola Lenti cast and mold become treated as equal objects of interest.

Light and Shade | image © designboom

The third collection, titled Pond Dipping, takes cues from when plants in ponds and swamps absorb water and mud. This process, referred to as the dying of the natural world, gradually discolors the submerged parts. Unlike modern textile methods — where uniformly dyed threads are woven together, different weaves are used to produce patterns, or printing is applied to transfer dyes — the design here aims to create textile patterns through the simple act of dipping. ‘I asked myself: How can we create patterns without actually designing them? So I started dipping yarn strings in different ways. I noticed that the dipping process creates the patterns by itself,‘ notes Oki Sato. The first step is to wrap the thread around a cylindrical tube, and half of the spool is dipped in black dye. Unwinding it reveals how the thread alternates in color between dyed black and undyed white. Repeating the same process with spools of different sizes produces different patterns. Additionally, if it was dipped at a different angle, checked patterns and gradation appear.

image © designboom

The fourth section leads visitors to Passing Rain, crystallizing the moment of a rain shower. Rain streaks appear here as thin lines expressed with mirror-finished stainless steel rods of 2 mm diameter. The rods connect to the aluminum bowl and rain down the mirrored base. A weld does not provide sufficient strength because the connection to the bowl is at an angle. Screws and adhesives are therefore used to secure these connections, and an inner layer of the bowl hides the screws. The base is welded from the back at the highest temperature that does not distort the plate, and the surface is mirror-finished to reflect the rain. Last but not least is Depth of Soil, a series of Terrazzo objects that express the accumulation of time. Whispers of Nature by nendo is on view at the Paola Lenti showroom on Via Giovanni Bovio 28, in Milan, from April 16-21, 2024, from 10:00 to 19:00 every day. During the exhibition, nendo staff will be available from 10:00 to 15:00.