Salone del Mobile 2022

The concept of sudare, bamboo blinds with an ancient history within Japanese homes, is reinterpreted with Valencian wooden lattices in an exhibition space that evokes the link between crafts, design and nature and Kengo Kuma’s interest in working with organic and local materials.

Kengo Kuma, an architect recognized for his focus on materials and his emotional connection with traditional Japanese craftsmanship, created a unique atmosphere without walls. To achieve this, Kuma uses the typical wooden blinds of the Mediterranean coast, made by hand with slats from Valencia in an installation inspired by Japanese sudare. This element is very present in some of his most outstanding architectural projects and reveals Kuma’s deep knowledge of traditional woodwork techniques, which he reinterprets in buildings that fit into the surroundings without altering the environment.

Walking the path subtly traced by the vertical mats, the visitor lets himself be wrapped in the surroundings and can discover the latest news from each of the Gandia Blasco Group brands. The wooden lattices visually encourage the visitor to enter an environment of design, craftsmanship and enthusiasm for the creation of natural and serene spaces.

The project fuses the Japanese artisan legacy of sudare with the company’s Mediterranean roots through the use of local materials —the undisputed hallmark of Kuma’s work— and interprets the link between craftsmanship, design and nature. Exploring this relationship, Kengo Kuma has devised an ephemeral construction that encourages movement and creates a sense of intimacy while suggesting the openness of the interior to the exterior without losing visual continuity. The installation has been designed using different angles in an arrangement, random in appearance, aimed at fluidly defining the different areas and concepts of space through semi-transparent separations. The curved shapes of the screens contribute to the softness with which the light filters in, in the same way as the traditional shutters of the houses on the Mediterranean coast.

Interview to Kengo Kuma: reflections about natural materials and human spaces

1. Lights and shades, transparency, a connection with nature, these are ever-present concepts in your projects. Warmth is also a common feature. Is this value more necessary than ever?
So now we all are facing a drastic change of history and as designers we should think about what is needed after Covid. Transparency and warmness, but still the natural, are the basis of future design. And the projects that we are working on together, those will fit this design philosophy after Covid.

2. What is the most valuable thing that you have learnt from your knowledge of the traditional Japanese crafts?
From traditional Japanese design I learned many things, for example, natural materials with transparency and natural materials with warmness are the basis of Japanese furniture design. So, both in Gandia Blasco Group stand and in the GOZ project we tried to pick up this quality, this essence, from Japanese tradition, and it’s just a very exciting process to learn and discover from Japan traditions.

3. Your works have a mission in themselves, to revisit and enhance the value of craftmanship whilst respecting this tradition and its origins. How have you approached this mission in the construction of the Gandia Blasco Group space in Fiera Milano Rho?
The craftsmanship is always the basis of our design. We always try to work with a good craftsman because I learn many things from his craftsmanship. Craftsmen are the teachers of our designs. We have also learned many things from the craftspeople who work for GAN, brand of Gandia Blasco Group.

4. The Gandia Blasco Group space designed for Milan’s Salone del Mobile is inspired in form and material both by the traditional Japanese sudare screens, and by the Spanish blind, part of Andalusian heritage, used for centuries to filter light and provide privacy. What can we learn from these traditional forms of architecture? How can they evolve and find new forms of expression in contemporary architecture?
Gandia Blasco Group, with GAN, has a long history with craftsmanship. The style of Spanish blinds, part of Andalusian heritage, is very natural but still very light. For the design of the stand at Salone we tried to combine Japanese essence and this Mediterranean-rooted softness, which is a big challenge, but I am very satisfied with the result.

5. You have previously stated that you want to make “soft architecture, one full of textures”. Tactile, friendly, human-scale architecture, born out of materiality and the need to connect the indoor and outdoor spaces. In your opinion, what concepts should underlie outdoor furniture designs today?
After Covid, after Ukraine, the main theme of design will be softness. People want to have softness and designs like GOZ collection can bring softness to the space.

6. Is there a close relationship between architecture and furniture in your works?
With both architecture and furniture, we just want to design the space for humanity. And for humanity furniture means “envelopment”. Architecture is also a kind of envelopment and, in this concern, we try to destroy the borders between architecture and design in every project.