Luminaire's Nendo Exhibition in Chicago

Meghan Edwards -- Interior Design, 7/1/2012 2:00:00 AM

Nendo's Oki Sato under his Growing Vases lighting for Lasvit.

The Coral Gables, Florida-based showroom Luminaire welcomed celebrated designer Oki Sato, co-founder of the decade-old Japanese design studio Nendo and design director of K%, for an extensive exhibition and luncheon at their three-level Chicago outpost during NeoCon. Having just arrived from Tokyo on June 12, Sato remarked, "It is stunning to see so many of my pieces in one place. I have never seen anything like it, ever." Nendo, which Sato co-founded in Tokyo in 2002, now boasts offices in Milan and Singapore and has completed such diverse projects as architecture, interiors, exhibition design, furniture, product, and graphic design.

In addition to being Sato's first trip to Chicago, the event marked the stateside debut of the inaugural K% furniture collection, Black & Black, which first launched in Milan during the Salone del Mobile. K% aims to challenge the way we think about everyday objects by producing examples that are deceptively simple yet complex in their conception and production, eventually expanding to include contributions from different designers.

Luminaire's exhibition also focused on recent collaborations with the impressive roster of manufacturers they represent, including furniture and lighting by Lasvit, Established & Sons, Cappellini, Moroso, DePadova, Maruni, and Foscarini, among others. On the Chicago showroom's top floor, visitors were greeted by Nendo's Growing Vases lighting installation bathed in blue, while furniture items by the aforementioned manufacturers extended throughout several carefully curated exhibition areas on either side.