Infamous Japanese design studio Nendo headed by Candian-born Oki Sato is releasing their own stationary collection under the moniker “by | n”.
The “by | n” product collection will feature around 70 items* in total and previous items included the sweet & playful Chocolate Paint:
Chocolates like a set of oil paints. Tubes in a box of paints contain a variety of colours, and these chocolates a variety of flavoured syrups. The labels indicate each chocolate’s flavour and also function as wrappers, keeping fingers clean for eating. A design that combines the childhood excitement of opening a new box of paints and the thrill of opening a box of chocolates you’ve been given unexpectedly.
A more traditional range of products labelled “by | n meister” has generated – among other items – a twisted reinvention of the chop stick:
For four centuries, the town of Obama in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, has manufactured lacquered chopsticks. Obama’s lacquered chopsticks have been recognised as the hardest and most beautiful of Japanese lacquer chopsticks since the seventeenth century, when they became known as ‘Wakasa-nuri’. We designed new chopsticks in collaboration with Hashikura Matsukan, a manufacturer who continue Obama’s traditional manufacturing techniques today. Chopsticks ordinarily come in pairs, but the rassen chopsticks are a single unit. They’re separated into two for eating, then rejoined into one form when not in use. We used the artisans’ hand skills and a multi-axis CNC miller to create these unusual chopsticks.
The stationary collection is made up of 11 items for the time being and are being sold through the Sogo & Seibu Co., Ltd department stores in Tokyo and Yokohama. All products are inventively minimal and are meant to resolve small discomforts in life through the powers of design.*
Flip Pen
Most of this pen is its cap. Reversing the cap turns the pen into a tablet stylus. The pen comes with a shorter cap as well, for easy portability.
Ruler
A clear acrylic ruler whose marking fade from white to black, making the ruler easy to use on dark and light surfaces alike.
Circle Tag
Sticky notes in the shape of pie charts. Square and rectangular sticky notes can be easily ripped off, when their corners are caught. Increasing the sticky surface area and reducing the number of corners on our sticky notes to the minimum generated a wedge form.
Link Clip
Paperclips that come connected and are detached one by one for use, keeping desktops tidy. The paperclips are made of paper so that they’re easy to detach and can be recycled along with the paper. To make up for paper’s weakness compared to traditional metal paper clips, we selected a high frictional paper for a stronger grip.
Cubic Rubber Band
Assertively three-dimensional rubber bands. The geometrical shapes make the bands easy to find in a drawer and easy to pick up.
Outline Tray
We don’t usually pick up trays full of pens and paperclips and walk around with them, so why do their containers need bottoms? We realised that it’s actually enough to separate things by type, so these desktop trays for filing small objects are frames rather than containers. The frame form makes it easier to clean inside the tray, and they stand out less visually as well. When not in use, the trays can be stacked for compact storage.
Cross Pen-Stand
Cylindrical desktop penholders are a dime a dozen, but they don’t stabilise each pen and pencil separately, and it would be helpful to hold wide objects like rulers and flat objects like cards and memo paper neatly in place, too. The cross pen-stand does all of these things and looks like a repeated cross pattern from above, hence its name.
Hardcover Memo-Pad
Edge Note
A notebook that’s missing one corner and has a colourful edge to help with filing. Filed with the spine outwards, the notebooks present a neat appearance; filed with the edges outwards, they’re easily distinguishable by colour. Turning them upside down changes the position of the cut-out so that one notebook appears on its own, making it easy to find the notebook currently in use. Pages are printed in a light cross pattern to provide a visual surface that’s less restrictive than lines but gives more guidance than dots, and accommodates both writing and sketching.
Dot Envelope
A traditional Japanese gift-giving envelope whose customary bicolour decorative tie pattern is depicted entirely of dots. The paper is embossed and treated with ultraviolet ink for a glossy print with a distinctive spatial effect, for a simple, contemporary quality that fully expresses the giver’s congratulatory feelings.
Peel Case
Flip back the sides of this pen case once it’s opened, and you have an upright pen holder. A design for mobile and desk use alike.
Most of these products have one thing in common, they ingeniously enable a simple everyday object to become multi-purpose. They offer a solutions to several common problems attached to each object. A personal favourite is the ruler which works on light and dark paper.
