Nendo Sees Kyoto

Friedman Benda and nendo are pleased to present ‘nendo sees Kyoto’. Initially presented across historic, World Cultural Heritage sites in Kyoto, Japan [13 Jan. 2022 – 13 Feb. 2022], ‘nendo sees Kyoto’ saw the design practice, led by Oki Sato, collaborate for the first time with six local master artisans, each steeped in ancient Japanese craft methodologies. The resultant far-reaching body of work sees traditional Japanese materials, techniques and cultural objects recast through nendo’s pioneering lens. Marking their US debut, the select pieces displayed in this iteration of the exhibition hybridize temporalities; at once honoring the past while integrating it with forward-looking material technologies and visual choices.

In nendo and 16th Generation master craftsman Onishi Seiwemon’s hands, the vessels for a traditional tea ceremony, traditionally cast in iron, are instead rendered with 3d printing technology. Alongside Kojima Shouten, a studio that has been making Kyoto paper lanterns since its founding in the middle of the Edo period (1603-1868 A.D.), the iconic washi paper and bamboo shade of the region has been reimagined as 10 designs. Each design is presented with two results, a juxtaposition of before and after, which sees Hyouri’s shades seem to swallow parts of themselves, some triply nested, and some even reaching inward to peak through the other side.

Raku-ware, first produced in Kyoto in the 16th century Momoyama period by the first generation of the Raku family, is here recast not as a vessel to drink from but as a vessel that drinks. Alongside Raku Jikinyu, fifteenth in the Raku line, nendo placed their raku pieces, Junwan on a Petri dish lined with felt to absorb beverages like red wine, coffee and various teas. Acting as organic dyes the unfired pieces absorbed the drinks’ palette, creating a finish that expressively emphasizes the medium’s texture.