I visited the ceramicist Kgeyuki Mizuno at his studio on the Japanese Island of Taketomi recently.  We talked about his process.  Actually he talked and my friend Takuma translated.

A few months ago I saw Nao Matsumoto’s Throne chair in his Brooklyn apartment.  I asked him what the angle of the backrest was, and he replied that he didn’t know.  I thought that was odd since I knew he had recently completed it.  It seemed like somewhat of a deviation of his usual work.  This made me want to know more about it, and share that.

Here is a description of the project in the designer’s words:

The “Throne” was constructed with out any prior drawings nor predetermined measurements.  Every component was designed and fabricated in an ad-lib manner, where every decision was made on the spot.  Due to this process, the markings were made directly on the wood and fabricated.
Recently, I have been bored with the typical woodworking process of generating a detailed drawing and pre-determining the form by making renderings on the computer or on paper, before the fabrication process. I knew that this was not the most efficient way to construct this piece, yet I was compelled to accomplish this project as a challenge and also an experiment. Through this piece, I wanted to appropriate the beauty of natural materials with out streamlining and over sophisticating the form.   I am happy about the balance of primitive form and craft in this piece.
This chair was a long-overdue gift for my father.  The overall form was derived from my experiences and memories of him.   This is another reason why I did not rely on any drawings for the build. There are certain things in life that has no blueprints, no such thing existed between me and my father.  Maybe he had one, but I was always the child who broke those expectations.  My body proportions are similar to his so I used my body as a reference to the scale and location of the components.
The Throne is a chair designed and fitted for a King.  The sitting posture is not too relaxed, yet not too stiff.  Its was carefully decided so that it was a functioning sitting device for that individual to make orders with dignity and alertness.  The solidness of the construction and the materials give a sense of stability and strength, which are attributes of a King.
Every component is made out of thick pieces of American Walnut harvested in the East Coast. The seat is about 4” thick, the thicker components of the grid are 2.5” thick and the grid is composed of stock that are 1 5/8” thick.
The joinery is all traditional lap joints and mortise and tenon joints.  All the mortises are shouldered about  1/8”~ ¼” deep.  The leg and backrest are directly mortised into the seat.   The finish is hand rubbed oil.

Butterfly keys hold the wood together, preventing cracks from opening up.  Each key is about 1 1/4″ thick.  Hand cut and jointed.

Mortises on the seat.

Underside of the seat. The Leg grid gets jointed directly into the seat.

Gluing the back rest together. The grid is made out of 1 5/8″ stock , alternating half lap joint and mortised into the outer frame.

The Mortise and tenon joint for the arm rest. Shouldering each tenon increases the rigidity and the stability of the structure.

Routing the butterfly key.  A router is used to remove the bulk of the negative space needed to accept the butterflies.  After the rough removal, specialized chisels and hand tools are used to precisely cut the joint.

Mock up of the seat and the leg portion.  Mock ups like this happened numerous times during the process.

Mock up of the back rest, arm rest and the leg grid.  Each component was assembled individually and fitted.  The mock up process was the most time consuming part of the build since things had to be determined as each component was completed.  It was a challenge to figure out the balance and the structure; then make everything fit precisely with no loose joints or gaps.

Detail on the arm rest, backrest portion.

Nao Matsumoto lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.  He first wanted to work in wood after seeing wood carvers in Tanzania.  He is from Yokohama where he did wood carving but did not begin furniture until he moved to the United States.   You can see more of Nao’s work at www.naomatsumoto.com

Julia Greene and Kandice Levero won Best in Show with our “Jell-O Cocktail Trumpery”  We love process shots so let’s get to it…

What became known as the Jello Horn sat on the bottom shelf of my refrigerator for two weeks.  It was one of our first experiments.  We wanted to try Jell-O layering.  We actually expected that this would stay erect…

Jell-O Weaving.

Will candies melt in Jell-O?  Answer: yes.

We had a Jell-O tasting event for a few friends.  We learned Sherry Jello is a bad as it sounds.  That bright green one is D’Gari’s Pistachio Gelatinia with a little yellow food dye added.

Julia and i hand carved our positives out of plaster and foam.

Our first pull on the vacuum forming machine was horrible…

but we got the hang of it.

Julia mixes batches of blue, red, and yellow gum paste.  We needed all parts of the sculpture to be edible so we chose gum paste for the settings and beads.  Gum paste is mostly confectioner’s sugar with some gum powder.  It’s sort of yummy.  I ate a few beads.

Stringing gum paste beads at 4:30am.  That bottle is Kirch Brandy.  It had the highest alcohol content in my bar.  You need it to paint on the gold dust and then evaporate quickly.  It smelled so bad we had to take breaks.

Gum paste necklaces are hung to dry, however, nothing really drys in 100% humidity.

Painting the yellow gum paste settings with gold dust.

Peach Jell-O made with white grape juice was our most delicious necklace.

This gelatin is the D’Gari Pistachio with almond extract added.

Black Cherry Jell-O made with cranberry juice.

We had to make five tasting samples for the judges.  It was very important to us that they be “served on a bed of Pop Rocks.”  This was our mantra and after the sixth store, we were whining it.  Finally, Julia found it in bulk at the Atlantic Center Target, we bought $24.00 worth, and danced in the aisles.

The First Annual Gowanus Art Space Jello Competition turned in to a Melty Party around 9:00pm.

Team KJ did not go to bed last night.

Don’t we know it!

If you email me, I can change the title of this photo which is currently “Fun Guy.”  And you were sir.  You were.

We accept our award.

And eat Pop Rocks.

The first annual Gowanus Art Space Jello Competition had a really great turnout of competitors and guests.  The entrants were graded on the following criteria which turned out to be the four categories of prizes:

- Creativity
- Aesthetics
- Structural/sculptural ingenuity
- Edibility/culinary appeal
- Best use and showcase of Jell-O

With sponsors of household names like Kid Robot and Tara McPherson the Gowanus Art Space kicked off their first annual Jello Mold competition.  The judging was intense with a panel of four dressed in white lab coats:  Jason Miller, Tobias Wong, Jennifer Appel of Butter Cup Bake Shop, and Thu Tran of Food Party.  The night was hot and moist (good for skin, bad for melty gelatin sculptures) the DJ was great, the Jell-O was all over the place!

Thank you amazing, patient, brilliant organizers.  I’m told they began organizing this in Feburary:

Michelle Zatta- www.mlzatta.com

Nadia Siddiqui

Sara Antoinette Martin- www.sara-land.net

Designglut’s stunning mass of fish roe took the prize for Aesthetics.

“Jiggly Wrap” by Hugh Hayden and Savinien Caracostea won “Best Creativity”  I spoke with Savien about the chicken and his perfect food dye job.  I think he nailed the color.

Daniel Harper built a motorized rotational mold machine to achieve perfect spheres earning him Best Structural Integrity.

Did not catch this artist’s name…would love to get it from them.

A well choreographed performance by two ladies with Chiquita Banana jello hats and necklaces.

Jello Shot bar.  The Mojito was the best with crushed mint leaves on top.

Julia Greene and I took first prize “Best Use and Showcase of Jell-O” with our Jello Cocktail Trumpery.  Follow the link below to see our process:

Employing both rigid and non-rigid molds led to initial samples that ran the gamut from hard-edged to organic, and on occasion, both.  The non-rigid molds used were by far the most interesting and I realized that by stuffing a bag through a drilled piece of wood, one could create legs and structure.  This understanding led to the creation of a jig that allows me to easily pour the mixed concrete into a thick trash bag while retaining the structure of the bag, yet allowing me enough control to manipulate the form.  By wrapping a cardboard tube around the center, a central column is created, thus providing both structure and a transition from base to tabletop.  As the concrete cures, a piece of rebar is inserted into its center.
Materials: Portland cement, sand and steel rebar

When purchased in bulk, Portland cement can be bought for less than US$40/metric ton and common playground sand can be had for less than US$125/ton.  Steel rebar purchased at a local hardware store generally costs US$0.35/foot.

Samples and initial notes on varying mixtures, densities, breaking points, etc.

Rectilinear model made with acetate lined foam core mold.

More structural development.

Curvilinear structure.  Experimentation using foamcore spacers in a two piece mold and burning them out.

Texture swatches.

Texture swatches.

Rigid/nonrigid, smooth/bumpy.

Poking a plastic bag into holes and pouring in concrete led to the creation of “legs”.  This sample led to the most productive concept development.

Trashcan mold

First mold for side table made with cylindrical metal trashcan.  Lined with a stretched plastic bag, cinched at the center with duct tape.

Second prototype.  Began using jig to allow for more manipulation of drying concrete.

First prototype.  Dried concrete has been removed from trashcan; peeling away the plastic trash bag.

Second prototype.

The final Cumulus Table.

Daniel Jeffries is a 26 year old who hails from Charleston, South Carolina by way of Asheville, North Carolina.  After studying sociology for two years at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, he shifted course to Pratt’s undergraduate industrial design program.  He seeks to explore new ways of making things, and his work frequently examines conceptions of beauty and value.

I went to the second annual  Table Fights this year.  I was kind of expecting the contenders to look more like tables, but I was not disappointed by the invention used to make the tables run.  Above is the pit crew for Punch o Matic who came in only behind She Fell Down the Stairs.  It did punch, but the range was a little limited to do much damage.  I think it took quarters.

That is She Fell Down the Stairs on the left.  The genius of this table had to be the swinging Bud Light can.

Joel Escalona was one of the recipients of the Bernhardt Studios Award this year.  I liked his Dancing Table, inspired by the waves created by a twirling women’s dress.

Elisa Werbler’s stunning piece at the RISD booth titled “Pour” is made entirely of liquid plastic.

Pratt Institute won best design school this year.  Their concept was Design for a Dollar.  David Steinvurzel showed these votives made of soy-based wax and orange peels.  To me it was the most honest stab!

The wick is actually a part of the orange.  Very smart!!

I spoke with Maarten De Ceulaer a little about his suitcase piece, and how he ended up at the ICFF.  He told me it had been his thesis project at the Design Academy Eindhoven.  It was recently picked up by Nilufar gallery and through them it is available in leather.  I looked at their site, and they have some pretty nice storage.   Maarten also mentioned he will be selling his Rubber Iron Book Ends at Moss soon, so look for that.

So, how did Maarten and his suitcases get here?  I asked him that question and we talked a little about his experience since school.  He is taking advange of a government program in Brussels that helps people to start their own business by providing a stipend.   He said the government is very supportive to young designers there.  We both agreed young designers should buy cheap cell phones ath this point in our careers.

Two years ago I heard about these two designers running around Milan on the back of a flatbed truck with their blow up couch.  I got to meet them at this years Messe Frankfurt and try the couch.

The strangest thing about Messe Frankfurt, all the biggest Euro wholesale companies had their own cafe with free espresso in the booth.

I met this nice man.  He sold button covers.