At Designart Tokyo, Japanese design collective Honoka exhibited furnishings and lighting made by 3D printing a fabric created from discarded Tatami mats.
The exhibition – titled Tatami Refab Challenge – displayed lampshades, lighting, tables, stools, basins and plant holders that appeared to glow because of the translucency of the fabric, which was created from grass and resin.
“Honoka has developed a singular materials by mixing biodegradable resin with Igusa grass, which is extracted from Japanese discarded Tatami mats,” stated Honoka.
“Utilizing ExtraBold’s giant 3D printer, the mission proposes furnishings that re-weaves Tatami into trendy life.”
The Igusa grass is lower from the mats and floor up, earlier than being combined with biodegradable resin.
The ensuing pellets had been fed by means of a large-format 3D printer and assembled to create a variety of useful homewares and merchandise.
Every bit within the exhibition is 3D printed, but all have a woven, lattice or knitted impact harking back to conventional Japanese craft methods.
The items had been colored beige, clear, inexperienced and lilac, with an added dimensional high quality relying on how mild filters by means of because of their semi-transparency.
Tatami is a conventional fashion of mat created from lengths of dried Igusa grass which were utilized in Japanese interiors for hundreds of years.
The mats had been in style because of their skill to regulate humidity and scale back odours in inside areas.
The recognition of Tatami mats has seen a decline lately, which prompted Honoka to think about how the mats might be repurposed and reintroduced into up to date interiors.
The outcome was a sequence of useful objects and furnishings that reference the frond-like look of Igusa grass, in addition to time-honoured Japanese craft methods.
Lighting designs that had been exhibited embrace a basket-like lampshade, the design of which recollects conventional Japanese lantern mild shapes, by designer Ryo Suzuki.
Designer Shinnosuke Harada additionally created a lighting piece. Referred to as Taba, it was formed like a horizontally hung bundle of sticks certain within the centre and at both finish, which references how Igusa grass was transported earlier than being woven.
Fujiwara Kazuki, one other contributing designer, additionally created a lampshade – named Ami – that has a sparse, nest-like impact achieved by dripping the resin from above.
He additionally designed an identical stool, which has a equally criss-cross impact seat atop a layered, barrel-like physique.
Different stools within the assortment embrace Chigusa by designer Shoichi Yokoyama, which was primarily based on the silhouette of conventional Japanese Sen-suji saucers.
Yocell – a stool designed by Moritaka Tochigi – featured a faceted star-shaped seat knowledgeable by Asanoha, a geometrical sample frequent in Japanese crafts.
Every of the six shapes might be moved in isolation after which certain again collectively by two inflexible hexagonal binders.
Different objects introduced on the exhibition embrace a low desk with a 3D printed base that widens to help a transparent tabletop, additionally designed by Ryo Suzuki.
Designer James Kaoru Bury created the freestanding Tachiwaki basin, which incorporates a detachable 3D-printed panel to obscure saved merchandise beneath the sink.
Lastly, a lattice-like construction for arranging flowers was created by designers Shinnosuke Harada and Moritaka Tochigi, primarily based on the looks of Japanese structure.
“We designed a sequence of furnishings to re-embed Tatami into trendy life utilizing 3D printing know-how and recycled supplies,” stated Honoka. “We are going to proceed to inherit the tradition of tatami to the following technology.”
All the items can be found to buy.
Honoka is a design lab fashioned of six Japan-based product designers, who purpose to create unique items by means of the usage of 3D printing and different cutting-edge manufacturing methods and supplies.
Different current tasks by Japanese designers embrace a picket materials that resembles terrazzo by Yuma Kano and Rio Kobayashi’s first solo present Manus Manum Lavat.
The images is by Sota Kamagai, Megumi Kurokawa and Takaho Nagumo.
