Woodworking Network: Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has designed two "Christmas trees" that are being exhibited in the lobbies of two high-end Toyko hotels, the Tokyo EDITION Ginza and the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon.
Made from timber components, the trees will be crafted into furniture to be used at the two hotels. The exhibition will run until December 25 at the Tokyo Edition Ginza and until December 26 at the Tokyo Edition Toranomon.
3 comments:
These are so beautiful. They remind me of the intricate Japanese joinery we learned about in Production Science. It is cool all of the different hobbies and projects and crafts that people invent to keep themselves busy. I wonder what inspired this guy to create furniture-trees. I am also wondering how they turn into furniture, exactly. I wish there was a video. I assumed that you could rotate or turn them or something and they would fold into chairs or tables.. sort of like Transformers. But, from the images, it appears that instead the trees are being cut up and reassembled into furniture. It looks like something that would be auctioned off to millionaires for thousands of dollars. Maybe multimillionaires, especially in this economy.
These wooden Christmas trees are such a cool concept, and they are even more bolstered by the reuse tied to them. The trees that are displayed are beautiful and wonderful central display pieces that really get into a festive spirit. The shapes and textures are unlike a lot of tree displays I have seen, it is minimal without being plain, central without being flashy, overall very elegant pieces that will enhance the hotels they are staying at. The tables that are made from the trees are gorgeous and I really like that they keep similar shape and texture to the tree it came from, making it solidly part of the art and display as opposed to leftovers thrown in a pile. It also really reflects the season of giving and especially that of giving back through that reuse. The people who will buy them also get to keep a strong reminder of what it is that the tables originally were and looked like.
I love the creativity of this artful exhibit, but what I love the most about this is the reusability of the materials. Making art in a way that also produces furniture that will continue to be used is awe-inspiring. This dual-purpose installation serves as inspiration for any artist looking to be more sustainable in their art. Even if the art isn’t going to last for a long time that doesn’t mean that we need to dispose of it, we can create with repurposed material, we can make art while being conscious of the reusability of our materials, and we can build with installations with multiple uses. Kengo Kuma’s art is just one example of the sort of out-of-the-box thinking that sustainability calls for. Not only do the trees bring holiday cheer but they also don’t bring the guilt of trees that are fake and only used once a year or even the fresh-cut trees grown in environments not meant for them only to be cut down. As pine trees grow their needles cause acidification of the soil. This is meant to encourage the growth of more pines, however, this also makes it hard for the native fauna to grow.
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