Japanese Stone Garden by Nendo for Caesarstone

Caesarstone is excited to announce its collaboration with acclaimed Japanese design studio Nendo, an installation which was unveiled at the 2013 Interior Design Show in Toronto, Canada on January 24.

Caesarstone collaborated with acclaimed Japanese design studio Nendo who created an exclusive installation with the company’s surface materials. IDS 2013’s International Guest of Honour, Oki Sato, founder and chief designer of Nendo, created Stone Garden, an installation of ‘table-like’ surfaces clustered together to form a seemingly floating landscape.

The simplicity of the design reflects the minimalistic beauty that Nendo is known for, while exhibiting the exceptional quality, functionality and creativity of Caesarstone surfaces. The tables, which are carried by a simple metal rod, are secured into place by an overlapping design, thus eliminating the use of fasteners to hold them into place. Like the different shapes, depths and directions of overlaps forming this installation, Caesarstone’s versatile surface designs can compliment any space.

“The installation explores the boundary between ‘furniture’ and ‘non-furniture’. Tables that aren’t quite tables form a cluster, creating a new kind of ground surface like a garden floating in the universe, far beyond the scale of individual tables. The unique variety and quality of natural colours and textures of the Caesarstone surfaces are perfect to be arranged in a composition like the stylized landscape of a Japanese rock garden.” – Oki Sato, founder and chief designer of Nendo.

This latest collaboration reconfirms Caesarstone’s position as a leading platform for cutting-edge design, whilst effortlessly displaying the brand’s beauty and functionality.

Oki Sato, who heads the firm Nendo, has been named by Fast Company as one of the brightest talents in a new generation of Japanese minimalist designers. Born in Toronto, Oki graduated with a master’s degree in architecture from Waseda University in Tokyo. Nendo was formed in 2002, after an inspiring graduation trip to the Milan Design Furniture Fair, and has since become one of the most prolific design firms in the world.

In Japanese “nendo” means free-form clay, a soft, fluid substance that symbolizes the way the company’s founders wanted to work. The goal of Nendo is to reconstitute the everyday by transforming it into something that is easy to understand. Nendo believes there are many small moments of surprise hidden in everyday life, and they want those who encounter their designs to intuitively feel those moments of surprise.

Nendo has since received numerous awards and recognition; Newsweek named Oki one of the world’s “100 Most Respected Japanese People” in 2006 and honoured the firm in 2008 as one of the “Top 200 Small Japanese Companies.” Most recently, Oki earned the title of “Designer of the Year” by both Wallpaper* and Elle Decor magazines. Nendo has also collaborated with a broad range of other brands, including Established & Sons, PUMA, Starbucks, Cappellini, Moroso, DePadova, Maruni and Foscarini.