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Tokujin Yoshioka created for Kartell “The Invisibles” Collection and revealed it during the Salone Internazionale Del Mobile in Milan.

 Salone Internazionale Del Mobile, Milan, 2010. Walking in the “Milanese” venues were designs and talents are showcased is very emotional. This fair is a great opportunity to discover new talents but also to enjoy confirmed ones that years after years are still surprising us with their creative energy.
Tokujin Yoshioka has once again collaborated with Kartell and has opened the Salone Internazionale Del Mobile in Milan with an installation of snowflake-like prism sticks that breaks the rules of dimensions. We met with Tokujin in the Kartell flagship store transformed by luminescent plastic pieces of furniture: “The Invisibles” Collection.
The pioneering “ Invisibles” line is made of polycarbonate; it includes tables, sofas, armchairs that despite their light appearance are very solid.

Everything is about the experience: take a seat and you will suddenly feel hanging in the air.
 

 

Tokujin shared with us his thoughts about the fair and gave us some keys to understand his world and creations.

1/ Is this collection a tribute to the beauty of nature?

Tojukin Yoshioka: I was inspired by the beauty of nature and had an image in mind of me walking into the snowflakes.

2/ You have been previously in Milan Salone Internazionale Del Mobile and you have worked with Kartell before on the "Ami Ami" chairs and series. How did you manage to conciliate the poetry of your designs and the “industrial” style of Kartell?

Tojukin Yoshioka: I have interpreted plastic to express natural phenomenon and played with the transparency of this material.

3/ How did you become a designer of sensations, rather than creating simple and plain pieces of furniture?


Tojukin Yoshioka: I want to push boundaries and to offer more than another new shape to the world and to our environment. During the creation process I focus on the user experience. It is all about feelings and sensations: sitting on one of my chair from the “Invisible” Collection should be like floating in the air. People want more than only to possess, they want to feel, perceive and experience. Designers need to go behind the simple object and work on materials to convey emotions.

4/ Is the need for practicability a hurdle to express emotions and opinions?


Tojukin Yoshioka: No, there are many different aspects in practicability, anyone has an ideal description of what is practical, it is very subjective and highly linked to one’s feelings.

5/ How do you enjoy being at The Milan Design Week?


Tojukin Yoshioka: It is a special occasion for me to realise my ideas and showcase them to an international crowd.

6/ This fair is open to the general public, do you agree with the idea that design is meant to be democratic and easily accessible?


Tojukin Yoshioka: It is not only for designers, it is not only for adults, and my creations are not exclusive to a defined group but could and should be accessible to anybody.

7/ What do you want to say through this event to the design industry?

Tojukin Yoshioka: We need to reassess what people want to experience in a world almost saturated with products and offers.

8/ What is the best compliment you have ever received?

Tojukin Yoshioka: I cannot think of one specific compliment, I am just delighted each time my creations are well received by the public and the press. I try to capture the positive energy that comes out of a presentation and to use it as a future source of inspiration.
 

Text by Delphine Hervieu

TAGS: tokujin yoshioka japanese designer japanese design kartell salone internazionale del mobile milan 2010 salone internazionale del mobile furniture faire fiera del mobile 2010 snowflakes installation the invisibles collection polycarbonate furniture plastic furniture kartell invisibles by tokujin yoshioka polycarbonate design modern furniture contemporary home furniture ami ami collection