In a collaboration that each partner describes as a natural fit, BoConcept, the Danish furniture company, and Nendo, the Japanese design group led by Oki Sato, have teamed up on a new line of furnishings called fusion, which was unveiled at an event in New York City this week.
The fusion collection includes a sofa and a multi-surface end table. Photo courtesy of BoConcept.
The collaboration was hatched last year when Sato and BoConcept CEO Torben Paulin met at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair, where Sato was the guest of honor. The fusion collection—which includes a sofa, chair, rug, tables, a shelving system, and accessories—was conceived as an amalgam of Danish and Japanese modernism. It will be available later this year.
"We have always felt a special connection with the Japanese, as Danish design is admired and so well recognized in this market," Paulin said. "Once we began discussing the scope of our 2014 design collaboration, we quickly reached the decision to partner with a Japanese designer. Oki Sato was at the top of our list, and we were lucky to be able to meet him at the furniture fair in Stockholm, where he was a guest of honor."
Oki Sato of Nendo says origami was one of the inspirations for the fusion line, an influence that can be seen in the rug. Photo courtesy of BoConcept.
Sato agreed that working with BoConcept was a natural next step for Nendo, one of the more dynamic design collectives to emerge in the last decade.
"When we started the design process, I was already very familiar with BoConcept as they have stores in Tokyo as well as in many of the big cities I travel to often," he said. "BoConcept’s designs are very urban and very functional, and have strong roots in the Danish design traditions. We liked that profile, and our objective was to add a distinct Japanese touch to the BoConcept collection."