asobi project

2020.5-/ 共同制作者: 谷口紅葉
2020.5- / collaborator: Kureha Taniguchi

Asobi Project is a sequential experiment of making furniture that centres around material tectonics. The principal of the project is to give both structural, constructional, functional, and poetic meaning to each material including material unfamiliar to furniture design. The way we do this is by having each material play a different role that ties the piece together as a whole. As a result, each part is independent of another both in technically and visually. The parts are not linked together firmly by way of screws or nails, instead, there is always play, or asobi (Japanese) between parts.

Fig.1

asobi shelf 01

Even though the components of this shelf don’t link together firmly by way of screws or nails (there is play or asobi (in Japanese) between parts), the shelf stands stably. The brass tubes function both as crosspieces that transfer the vertical load to the columns, and as sleeves for the green rope which is employed as a bracing system for the horizontal load(fig.1 and fig.2). It is easy assembly and disassembly, too.

Fig.2

asobi shelf 02

By making a small bookshelf we aim to utilize subproducts of the wood industry with digital fabrication techniques. The wood industry in Japan is known for its poor management due to overplanting in the last century and poor domestic consumption. Therefore it is important to create a method of utilising lumber remnants and discover their practical usage and charm. Having visited a sawmill in western Tokyo, we obtained cheap remnants of timber (long planks with curved undersides). The lumber remnants are scanned and digitized and processed with a CNC milling machine, while the digitized data was used to process acrylic boards with Laser Cutter respectively. In terms of assembly, this shelf also utilizes the concept of asobi between parts. For example, the modified lumber remnants are suspended only from pillars, a structure so primitive that it does not require standardized material(fig.3).

Fig.3

asobi shelf 03

The construction method of the previous shelf was developed and applied to a larger shelf. Firstly, three pillars are installed and propped between the floor and the ceiling so that they stand stably. Secondly, the remnant planks are installed as various types of shelf boards; upper levels have one plank each, while lower levels for larger books have two joined planks each(fig.4). In the upper part of the shelf, planks are suspended from the columns with ropes. In the lower part of the shelf, the brass tubes are installed both as crosspieces that transfer the heavy load to the columns, and as sleeves for the ropes which prevent tubes bending down(fig.5). Those assembly systems are so primitive that it does not require standardized material; therefore the idea of asobi enables utilizing lumber remnants and discover their practical usage and charm.

Fig.4

Fig.5