Novel innovations are seldom complete without the usage of unconventional materials and processes. Whether it is architectural rudiments distorted into sculptures or discarded textiles woven to build furniture, entities when displaced from their designated location and function, symbolise a rebellion. A similar defiance can be seen in Tokyo-based designer Sato Nobuaki’s recent experimentation with plywood. A material generally used for floors, ceilings, and doors, plywood is usually imagined as a sheet that can cover large portions in indoor spaces, and not as minuscule elements that can be configured to sculpt floor and wall decorations. However, Sato Nobuaki does exactly that in his latest collection of plywood objects.
The product designer derives inspiration from folk art to design plywood sculptures. “Folk art is an archive of the past. One can feel its value beyond its appearance. My interest in folk art, which is based on this kind of context, led me to start researching the craft, which later led to the creation of my plywood sculptures,” he says. Though they offer partial functionality, visually the plywood pieces bear semblance to puppets ready to break into a dance.
Apart from serving as an ode to folk art, Sato Nobuaki’s sculptures also pay homage to the material. “The birth of beautiful furniture by Charles and Ray Eames and Alvar Aalto is closely related to the history of the development of plywood. I respect what they have done with the material and I want to explore a new context for this material,’ says the Japanese designer.
Plywood used as a building material as well as for cladding purposes, is also often used to enhance the appearance of mobile objects such as tables and chairs. An efficient variation of natural wood, plywood, most often available as a sheet, is a homogeneous and versatile material employed to mass-produce a number of objects. Sato Nobuaki, however, is interested in referencing the usage of plywood in basketry. Positioned in contrast to the mass production of the material, handcrafted objects woven using plywood strips, serve as an antithesis to industrial modes of production.
Sato Nobuaki, through his plywood sculptures, merges the two distinct processes of mass production and handicraft. He says, “My creative activities begin with research on processing technology. No matter what material you look at, there are many processing methods, all of which have contexts. They are a result of trial and error by our predecessors. I research and reinterpret the context in which they were born in order to understand the materials.”
The designer’s sculptures move away from the classical forms of baskets, bowls, and boxes usually woven from plywood strips. The pieces in the collection include a stool, wall sculptures, and floor sculptures. In building pieces that embody both sturdiness and flimsiness in the same object, Sato Nobuaki paves way for innovative plywood creations in the future. While the wobbly parts of the sculptures are woven using veneer split along the grain, the sturdier portions are crafted using crimping veneer. It demonstrates that the veneer used for both components of the product is the same. Nobuaki’s work demonstrates the possibility of crafting objects with different functions, tactility, appearance, temperament, and hence, birthing distinct personalities from the same source raw material.
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