26 June 2014
The bento box is perhaps the object that embodies the lesson Japanese design has to teach us better than any other: how to concentrate a large number of functions in a limited space. It is the famous tray-container in which the Japanese consume their takeaway meals, which as everybody knows are made up of small portions of many different dishes. From technology to furniture, the Japanese feeling for things is epitomized by this archetype. Luca Nichetto seems to have caught its essence in full, channeling it into his series of low tables called Torei (the Japanese for tray). The tops, in fact, are not flat but carved out of solid black or dark red laminate, natural ash or marble, and intended like a tray to hold objects and not just support them. The strong sign of the bordered surface is matched by the slenderness of the metal structure on which it stands. The idea suggests functionality, but also lightness of movement and, above all, the possibility of combination. For the Torei are a bit like cherries: one leads to another, and in the end there are never enough. Manufacturer: Cassina.
