The Sand Chair Is The Epitome Of Contemporary Japanese Design x Modern Customizations

A beautiful piece of furniture can complete a room. It can be the final piece that makes a space come full circle, building a comfortable and cohesive haven, rather than a random area. Furniture pieces make or break a home, they add to the essence or soul of a home, hence one needs to be extremely picky while choosing a furniture design. The design should be a reflection of you, and what you want your home to be. When you place a piece of furniture in a room, it should instantly integrate with the space, creating a wholesome and organic environment. And, there’s something about a simple, minimalist, and well-done furniture design that completely wins my heart – for example, the ‘Sand’ Chair by Koichi Futatsumata.

Designer: Koichi Futatsumata

Designed by product designer and architect Koichi Futatsumata, the Sand Chair was launched as a part of Tendo Makko’s Japanese Modern/80 Project celebrating the 80th anniversary of the furniture brand. The Sand Chair is the epitome of contemporary Japanese design, and it has a unique flexible build, that allows it to be converted into multiple seating options. Now, if you’re wondering, the chair isn’t actually named after the sand found on beaches, it is named after the ‘sandwiched’ components that come together to create this harmonious chair.

The Sand Chair draws inspiration from the classic backless chairs, that allow the user to sit from both the front and the back. It is available in a variety of configurations – without backrests, armrests, or even bench versions. Despite the multiple variations, the essence of the chair remains the same – a fluid combination of solid wooden legs ‘sandwiched’ between curved plywood elements, and held together by bolts.

To build the Sand Chair, the brand utilized a blend of solid white beech for the legs and frame and molded maple plywood for the armrests, backrests, and seats. The entire collection is available in a natural color that allows the wood grain to truly flourish, or in glossy black and wine-red versions. Customers can opt for seating with or without upholstery, finished in fabric or synthetic leather.

The post The Sand Chair Is The Epitome Of Contemporary Japanese Design x Modern Customizations first appeared on Yanko Design.

Desktop Mars Zen Garden: Interplanetary Peace

Originally created as places for monks to meditate on Buddha’s teachings, Zen gardens have been miniaturized and available in desktop versions for quite some time now. Just not in interplanetary form, like this Mars Zen Garden available from Uncommon Goods. The desktop meditation garden features a 10″ diameter resin tray, red sand, lava rocks, a tiny astronaut and Sojourner rover, and a rake for making patterns. I am going to have so much fun relaxing and not working!

The copper-finish nickel rake features one end for raking and the other for creating craters from meteorite impacts. How realistic. Of course, if they wanted to make it even more realistic, it should come with some alien mini-figures as well. Stop hiding the truth, NASA!

I remember I had a miniature Zen garden in high school to help calm my nerves from the high stress of youth (little did I know!), but my cat Bill eventually knocked it off my desk, and all the sand got lost in the carpet. I suppose I should just be thankful he didn’t decide to use it as a litter box instead. At least there’s that.

[via The Awesomer]

These veggie-shaped sand toys help kids cultivate a love for nature… and vegetables!

Turn anything into a game and kids are sure to be more receptive to it! I mean, it’s easier to feed a child using the ‘Here comes the choo choo train’ trick instead of directly feeding them food, right?!

Tati Ferrucio’s Veggies Sand Toys take a similar route by turning vegetables into sand-toys. The toys are hollow so they can be filled with sand, and come with uniquely shaped leaves that act as handles for the child to hold. Paired with a neat digging tool, the Veggies Sand Toys enhance children’s curiosity for exploring nature and their ability to socialize with other kids and adults.

“The idea of this project came from observing the natural landscape in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and how families occupy and make use of the outdoor environment. I realize that Rio has many beautiful natural parks and beaches, but none of them were well equipped to promote outdoor play for children”, said Tati Ferrucio, the designer of the toy-set. The standard set has four toy vegetables (carrot, beet, onion, and potato) and two shovels (one kids-size, one adult-size) with three interchangeable heads and interchangeable foliage too. What’s even more clever is the fact that you can bury the toys into the sand, perfectly mimicking how carrots, beets, potatoes, and onions are grown under the ground too! The Veggies Sand Toys are designed to both entertain and educate at the same time… and if somehow kids can cultivate an appreciation for vegetables in the process, that’s just another massive win!

The Veggies Sand Toys are a winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2020.

Designer: Tati Ferrucio

This clock creates ripples in sand for the first half of the day… and then erases them

Think about the way you are in the day. You spend one half of the day working, interacting, eating, filling your mind with thoughts, and the second half disseminating, relaxing, and sleeping. The SAND clock by Studio Ayaskan is a beautiful representation of our time in the 24 hours of a day. With just one hand that makes rounds around the clock’s sand-filled bed, the SAND clock’s hand creates ripples in the sand as it moves along in the first 12 hours of the day, and then erases them over the next 12 hours, resetting itself just the way the human body and mind does.

The SAND is just conceptually and in execution, a brilliant installation that tells time. It sits horizontally, with a sand-filled base, and a steadily moving hand that has rake-like spokes on one side, and a flat edge on another side. For the first 12 hours of the day, from midnight to noon, the rake-edge of the hand faces downwards, gently creating a ripple in the flat sand for 12 straight hours. Once the hand reaches the 12 o’clock position at noon, it flips over to have the flat edge pointing downwards, erasing the ripples in a calming, meditative way, not only telling the time but also acting as a metaphor for how we are active for one half of the day and passive for the other, as well as the repetitive nature of each day being followed by the next!

Designer: Studio Ayaskan

Ride Along on This Awesome LEGO Sand Roller Coaster

You know summer is here when LEGO minifigs can be found hanging out at the beach. After all, they like some fun in the sun and sand too. Robert Carlson of 5MadMovieMakers and some friends to built this awesome LEGO Sand Roller Coaster, and it is a joy to watch in action.

The video was recorded at the Outer Banks in North Carolina, where you will take a journey through a sand castle, a seashell forest and even some underground tunnels.

It must have taken a long time to set this up, and the end result is awesome.

[via reddit via Geyser of Awesome]