The concept of this watch is “Borders.”It aims to bring realization of the relationship between product and the people who use it.

These watches are designed by “& design”
& design are Product and Inner-face Designers. Established in 2005.
The designers have designed household electrical appliances,
Public supplies, and a wide variety of goods Find out more on their website: anddesign.jp/
From IDEA DESIGN COLLECTION

Nendo designed the chair for and exhibition of their work at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York called Ghost Stories. New Designs from Nendo. More info: Here

Design concept
The cord-chair, a collaboration with Hiroshima Prefecture manufacturer Maruni Wood Industry, has legs only 15 mm in diameter. Rather than assembling wood panels around 9mm steel frame, we decided to hollow out pieces of wood to clad each part of the frame. We were particularly interested in showing off the flawlessness of the wood material. Each of the chair’s parts is carved from wood, left simple and undecorated to bring out the flawlessness of the material.

Since each part is only 3 mm wide, the chair must be made by hand, rather than with mass-production machinery. Each chair is carved by artisans who took special care to align the wood grain.
Like reinforced concrete, the chair separates and highlights the role of each element. It liberates wood from structure, allowing the material’s natural warmth and softness to come into sharp focus, and bringing out its greatest common denominator.

cord-chair
Materials: Wood (Maple), Steel
Dimensions: W420 D450 H802 SH430(mm)
Manuracturer: Maruni Wood Industry Inc.
The cord-chair is not about the kind of ‘mechanical beauty’ that seeks the least common multiple in form and structure.
Rather, with the cord-chair, we wanted to explore the relationship between materials like the metal wiring within an electrical cord and the rubber that encases it.
More images:(Dezeen)

Japanese Design Team Nendo Unveils Four New Designs and Prototypes at Museum of Arts and Design.

The newest projects and prototypes from the renowned Tokyo-based design studio Nendo will be seen for the first time at the Museum of Arts and Design this October.

From October 27 through January 10, 2010, Ghost Stories, New Designs from Nendo will transform the MADProjects Gallery on the Museum’s second floor into a magical landscape of new designs that imbue chairs, vases, and lamps with whimsy and optical illusion. Founded and led by Oki Sato, Nendo has garnered international attention and more than 45 design awards for its beautifully simple yet surprisingly humorous work in interiors, furniture, product design, graphics and architecture.

Ghost Stories, New Designs from Nendo, is the second exhibition in the MADProjects Gallery, which was launched in February 2009 with Totally Rad, a focused survey of the latest radiator designs, curated by Karim Rashid. Both timely and provocative, this ongoing program invites MAD curators, collaborators and leading voices in the field to explore emerging trends and innovations in design.

“Nendo’s breathtaking installation is an ideal fit for our MADProjects Gallery, which has become a spectacular space for us to showcase the newest, most original creations in design,” states Holly Hotchner, the Nanette L. Laitman Director of the Museum of Arts and Design. “In debuting Nendo’s latest projects and showing their prototypes, we are giving visitors a chance to see into the design process behind some of the most original, cutting-edge works.”

The exhibition will include four new designs, accompanied by prototypes and videos that make imaginative use of new and traditional materials to surprise expectations:

The “Fade-Out” chair, a simple rectangular chair made from clear acrylic and painted with trompe l’oeil wood grain over most of the structure. The pattern fades away on the lower part of the chair legs to create the impression that the chairs are floating in space.

“Blown-Color” is an assembly of one-of-a-kind lamps made from Smash, a special polyester fabric that can be manipulated into different forms when heated and that retains its shape when cooled. The group created a series of lights in the style of vernacular Japanese chochin paper lanterns, but, rather than the traditional bamboo frame, the properties of Smash allowed Nendo to shape it like blown glass in one seamless piece.

“Cord-Chair” is a super thin wooden side chair that appears flimsy and breakable, yet is sturdy and indefinitely strong thanks to its hidden aluminum skeleton.

“Phantom-Waves” are a series of prototypes for a new vase. Each rectangular or cylindrical vase is constructed with polarized Mylar that creates the impression of solid horizontal discs that divide the vase into segments. The discs are, however, only an illusion caused by the polarized light-a flower stem or branch can be inserted “through” the seemingly solid disc, creating an intriguing illusion.

“So many products have been designed with only function in mind, it’s time to think more about the emotional response something evokes,” says Oki Sato, who named Nendo after a Japanese word for clay. “My inspiration is everyday life. I really enjoy those ‘Aha!’ moments-moments when something new or different gives you a pleasant surprise-and I want to share those moments with people.”

ABOUT THE MADPROJECTS GALLERY

The MADProjects Gallery, located on the 2nd floor, showcases emerging trends in contemporary design through a program of short-term exhibitions. Responding nimbly to new developments in design, the Museum invites guest curators to explore current themes, issues, and innovations in the field. Exhibitions introduce the work of young, up-and-coming designers as well as design pioneers, and explore advances in sustainable design.

MADProjects was launched in February 2009 with the exhibition Totally Rad, a focused survey on the newest radiator designs, curated by Karim Rashid.

www.madmuseum.org/

www.nendo.jp/en/

Karimoku Jjapanese furniture manufacturer have teamed up with design studio isolation unit  to produce a collection of products.

Isolation unit selected international designers; scholten & baijings (netherlands), sylvain willenz (belgium) and big game (switzerland/belgium) to create furniture for karim oku, that was  contemporary and sustainable.

The new products will be on display at 100% design Tokyo from october 30th to november 3, 2009.

www.100percentdesign.jp/english/

After years of squat lavatories where your toilet slippers – yes, there is special footwear for the purpose – would disappear into primitive plumbing, the Japanese have now perfected the washlet, a filth-free, high-tech fitting for temples of “personal comfort”. And innovative sanitaryware-maker Toto has emerged as one of the primary exporters of the 21st-century loo to the rest of the world.

In the land where “beautiful” literally means “clean”, it seems only natural that technology should be harnessed to create a truly modern lavatorial experience. It all started with an elementary warming of the seat but since then Japanese plumbing companies have been loading whistle and bell features on to their bathroom fittings.

The pursuit of cleanliness can be better in every way, from a clean perspective to a green perspective. The Washlet uses water to cleanse and refresh and can significantly reduce the consumption of toilet paper.

It makes perfect sense. We bath and shower with water. We wash our faces and hands with water. Nothing cleanses like nature’s most soothing and essential element, which is why Washlets purify and clean in ways that you cannot experience with traditional bathroom rituals.

The Washlet offers a lot of amazing technology, cleverly disguised as a toilet seat that fits virtually any standard toilet. At your command, Washlet extends an integrated wand to release a warm, soothing stream of aerated water to provide the ultimate in personal cleansing. But this is not a conventional bidet; the wand self-washes and retracts after each use.
Though the innovative features vary by model, the possibilities include:

• Auto-flush activated by sensors or the simple touch of a button
• Automatic open/close lid activated by sensors, or the remote control
• Hands-free, SoftClose seat/lid close smoothly without slamming
• Gentle, aerated warm water delivered by the wand
• Front and rear cleansing options
• Massage feature
• Warm-air drying with variable three-temperature setting
• Automatic air purifier
• Heated seat with temperature control
• Convenient wireless remote control with large LCD panel
• Easy-to-remove docking station for easy cleaning and installation
• Reinforced base plate for enhanced durability
  www.toto.co.jp