“Design has no boundaries!” The five days of Tokyo Designers Block was a time when people directly felt this theme. The warm weather in Tokyo reminded me of an early summer and it seemed to celebrate this massive design event. Even until late at night, people were going by to enjoy the designs and events. It was a special time that everybody could freely enjoy arts without difficult words and logic. Here is a report of this event I saw. Enjoy Tokyo Designers Block tour.

Nissim Porat

The first area I went is Aoyama, where IDEE Shop and IDEE Shop Pacific are. A lot of wooden furniture was on the first floor of IDEE Shop. The first furniture, which caught my attention, was Nissim Porat‘s. The chair parts were like a seesaw. I could not sit down on the chair but I enjoyed of imagining what sort of nice chat this furniture brings.

Tal Gur “Shlonsky”

Passing through a staff room and going up a narrow spiral staircase, many lovely lamps were on the top floor. Especially yellow-face-lamps, called “Shlonsky” by Tal Gur were cute and they made me smile. Gur was inspired by the verses that the human face can be drawn using Hebrew vowel marks for eyes, month and ears, and they brought him an idea about this lamp. Also, a bit dodgey-face-lamps, called “Eash” was also Gur’s and they looked like a new type of snowman. There were only myself and my friend but I felt a strong existence from these lamps as if someone else were there as well.

Trio De Punch “Cafe Table”

At IDEE Shop Pacific, I saw three cafe tables from “Dining Table Series” by an interior design unit Trio De Punch. The materials used in the table are plastic corrugated cardboard and a special printing sticker. The designs on the table are well-known visuals of a photographer Mika Ninagawa, a comic artist Ayako Yamaguchi and Fender Japan, Ltd.. Until I recognised they were “tables”, I thought they were something like electric appliances, especially a speaker. It might be that I saw the visual of Fender first, I felt deep sound from a blue rose visual of Ninagawa and a screaming voice from a girl illustration of Yamaguchi.

Works of Ichiro Katamiand Kazuhiko Tomita

Cibone Aoyama could be found at the intersection of Aoyama Avenue and Gaien-Nishi Avenue, and I saw the works of Ichiro Katami and Kazuhiko Tomita there. Katami’s works, a square-shaped chair, table and a massive wall are made of wax. These nearly red salmon pink objects looked really attractive in a black background and the light installations brought the light and shade of the wax colour.

Tomita directed a space with the furniture that he designs for Cibone. The space was unified with chic colours of furniture, pictures, tableware and plants. Especially the tableware and vase were very Japanese but the mix of that Japanese taste and a fancy small TV as an accent gave me a sophisticated impression.