Tag Archives: Kenji Abe

Zen-inspired incense cone ‘cage’ looks interesting even when not in use

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Designed using motifs taken from patterns found in zen gardens, Kenji Abe’s ‘Cage’ holds a single incense cone within its hollow interior, scattering its dense, aromatic smoke in a unique geometric pattern. However, its eye-catching appeal extends far beyond the lifespan of the incense cone, looking alluring as a regular desk object too.

Designer: Kenji Abe for ifuki

The cage-like incense stand comes in two varieties – a bell-shaped variety and a dodecahedral variety. Both shapes are categorized by the use of parallel lines that intersect to create a geometric allure that looks great on its own, but even better when it has smoke passing through it. Each incense stand consists of the zen-inspired metal outer cage, and a circular base that actually holds the incense cone. To light a cone, simply lift the cage up, place the cone on the disc-shaped holder, light it, and put the cage back. Thick smoke from the lit cone will then billow through the slits in the cage, allowing the smoke to create a geometric form as it exits the cage, before scattering into its randomized pattern.

The lattice structure found on both CAGE designs takes its inspiration from the patterns found in zen sand gardens. The methodical patterns made on the sand were a way to help Buddhist monks engage in meditative activity. The incense holder evokes the same sort of tranquil state in people, with its combination of geometric design and the aroma of the incense burning underneath.

“This incense holder is crafted using sukashibori, an openwork technique used in the creation of traditional incense holders”, says designer Kenji Abe. The two incense cages were created for ifuki, a copper-product brand based out of Takaoka City, a rural town with 400 years of metalworking history.

The post Zen-inspired incense cone ‘cage’ looks interesting even when not in use first appeared on Yanko Design.

Gorgeous machined-aluminum saké glasses with intricate details were designed to uplift its taste and visual presentation

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They say the key to a good saké tasting experience is a well-made saké cup. If constructed perfectly, these cups have an incredibly thin rim, making the saké glide perfectly onto your tongue, coating it in a way that makes you forget that you’ve got a cup to your lips. Most saké cups end up using materials like porcelain and glass, for their heat-resistance and ability to be fabricated with intricate thin rims… however, designer Kenji Abe feels this prerequisite makes metal a perfect candidate for saké cup design. Abe’s series of cups, titled Hakusaku, explore the use of duralumin (an aluminum alloy) to make beautifully intricate saké cups. The cups come in the three traditional shapes/profiles, and have a rim as thin as 0.6mm, making it feel like you’re directly drinking the saké without even feeling the cup.

Designer: Kenji Abe

Traditional cups come in various shapes too, from the classic straight-edge cup to the bowl-shaped cup and the trumpet-shaped cup. Each of these cups alters the experience of consuming saké, as does the material. It’s unclear if the aluminum cups change the flavor of the saké the way they do with wine, but the metal construction of the cup plays an important role in thermal conductivity, allowing your lips and tongue to feel the cold metal before the chilled saké coats your tongue.

Each glass comes machined from a single piece of duralumin, an aluminum alloy known for its strength. Microtextured to absolute perfection, the cups have a wonderful satin finish that makes them gorgeous to look at, and rather than leaving each cup blank, Abe chose to machine a wonderful geometric texture onto them. This cut-glass-inspired ‘kiriko’ texture not only plays the role of giving each glass its signature aesthetic, but also increases surface area to prevent the warmth of your fingers from reaching the saké and changing its temperature.

Designed to be more durable than porcelain or glass, clinking the Hakusaku saké feels much more satisfying too, with the signature clinking sound of metal against metal.

The straight-edge cup is reminiscent of a shot-glass, with its design that requires you to tilt your cup upwards and tip your head backward as you take a sip. This lets the alcohol flow straight into your mouth, spending less time on your tongue and directly hitting your throat for that warm feeling.

The bowl-shaped cup creates a wide rim that allows the aromatic notes of the saké to hit your nose as you drink the beverage. The wide rim also allows you to taste more saké with each sip.

Finally, the trumpet-shaped cup allows you to observe and savor the subtle flavors of the saké. The wide rims mean you’re prompted to take sips instead of a single gulp, which lets you enjoy the saké over time.

Each cup is meticulously machined from a single duralumin billet

The post Gorgeous machined-aluminum saké glasses with intricate details were designed to uplift its taste and visual presentation first appeared on Yanko Design.

This modular packaging is inspired by how various atoms link together to form different materials!

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Everything starts with a small building block. Humans, animals, plants, all started as a single cell, multiplying into various multi-cellular organisms… and the world around us is made from materials that are superclusters of individual atoms and molecules. In fact, the very medium you’re reading this on is an organized grid of individual building-blocks called pixels! Titled the “CY-BO”, this packaging concept by Kenji Abe follows the same ‘Think Big but Start Small’ principle found in nature and in life around us. A finalist at the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2021, CY-BO relooks at how packaging (and even products) are built, bringing an almost cellular approach to design by basing the packaging around a single 6-pronged unit that can connect together, forming a chain-link that can be used to create complex shapes. When expanded, CY-BO reads CYtological packing material beyond BOundaries… a fitting name as it turns the old ‘Form follows Function’ adage on its head by creating a unit so versatile, it can be turned into any form or fulfil any function. Sort of how a simple brick can create a building of any shape.

In CY-BO’s defense, it isn’t really a modular concept, but rather a molecular one. The unit in question is a six-pronged shape, punched out of a sheet of foam. Each of the prongs comes with one of two elements – a button, or an eye – and individual CY-BO units can be interlocked into each other by passing buttons through eyes, creating a chainlink fabric of sorts. However, the 6-prongs allow the units to form more complex 3D shapes and contours, giving it infinite versatility. Kenji’s vision is to completely reimagine packaging by creating a standardized unit that can ‘weave itself’ around products. Square-shaped products get wrapped in CY-BO in a square pattern, spherical products in a sphere created using CY-BO units, and if the product is abstract-shaped, it can easily be wrapped in CY-BO by piecing together the individual foam units in the shape of said product. This, broadly, does a number of things. Firstly, it creates a standard, eliminating the previous standards of plastic packets, paper boxes, or cardboard cartons. In doing so, it makes it easy to recycle and reuse CY-BO units, massively eliminating waste. Secondly, made from foam, the CY-BO eliminates the need for bubble-wrapping products. Given its inherent ability to cushion, the CY-BO becomes both the packaging as well as the dunnage, saving materials and saving space. Moreover, fragile products can simply be wrapped in additional layers of CY-BO, further expanding on its modular/molecular design. Thirdly, the CY-BO goes beyond packaging, becoming a useful material in its own right. Sure, it can easily be recycled by separating and reusing the individual CY-BO units… but it can be up-cycled too. Quite like how paper and plastic become the fodder for upcycled craft projects, CY-BO can be redesigned into a variety of products like stationery-cases, lamps, coasters, even clothes. Its interlocking design becomes almost like a creative constraint, allowing people to reimagine CY-BO units in a variety of ways, quite like how the same set of LEGO blocks get turned into millions of different things, thanks to the creative community of LEGO users. With CY-BO, it becomes more commonplace and provides a unique circular approach to product packaging, benefiting everyone.

“Benefiting everyone” are the keywords there, illustrating how one simple foam unit could replace the tonnes of paper boxes getting used and thrown every day, or plastic covers ending up in our landfills and oceans. The CY-BO is small, allowing it to easily be pulled apart and reused. Moreover, it could even be built from a variety of other materials, including more biodegradable ones, or even synthesized bio-materials that could serve as nutrition for animals in our oceans. CY-BO’s incredibly versatile design backed by designer Kenji Abe’s systems-approach is what enabled the project to be selected as a finalist in this year’s LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2021 with the competition’s theme being “Design for a Better Tomorrow”. Currently in their 9th year, the Lexus Design Awards are on a mission to ideate and innovate for a better future for humanity as well as for the planet. The Awards program’s underlying theme of “Design for a Better Tomorrow” empowers participants to build solutions that have a uniquely positive impact on society, humanity, and allows the LEXUS, in turn, to reward a new generation of designers for their impactful ideas. Creating the perfect environment for a design to grow, LEXUS helps engineer ideas into real, impactful solutions. Apart from accelerating, developing, and promoting design projects, the Lexus Design Award helps kickstart design careers too, with exclusive mentorships from international design stalwarts like Joe Doucet, Mariam Kamara, Sabine Marcelis and Sputniko!, as well as funding for prototypes (up to 3 million Japanese Yen or $25,000 per project) and the opportunity to have your work judged by the biggest figures in design in the final Grand Prix competition. This year’s judges include Paola Antonelli (Senior Curator at MoMA), Dong Gong (Founder and Principal Designer at Vector Architects), Greg Lynn (Architect and CEO at Piaggio Fast Forward), and Simon Humphries (Head of Toyota and Lexus Global Design).

CY-BO is one of the six finalists of the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2021. Stay tuned as we feature all the finalist designs following the Grand Prix Winner Announcement here on Yanko Design!

Designer: Kenji Abe

Click Here to See All Six Lexus Design Awards Finalists!

CY-BO

CY-BO is a new form of cytologically-inspired packaging material that can transform into various shapes by combining the pieces together. Infinitely reusable and rearrangeable, it can be converted into all manner of products for different applications depending on the ideas of the user.

CY-BO can envelop fruits such as apples and peaches, dishes etc, and it can also be used as a coaster as it is a material with excellent water resistance.

Click Here to See All Six Lexus Design Awards Finalists!

Is This the Future of Packaging?

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We love to see unique and interesting alternatives to traditional packaging, and Cy-Bo certainly has both of these bases covered! This series of distinctive forms have been created through the repetitive combination of the same six-pointed shape; by rearranging the shape in different configurations and patterns, a wide range of shapes and forms can be created!

The hugely flexible, sponge-like form can be used to hold objects ranging from fruit and vegetables to protect them from drops, through to pens and pencils when its configured into a striking pencil case!

The possibilities are only increased with the introduction of different materials; the example shows a form created from waste leather, which creates a striking design that consists of the mesmerizing, repetitive shape!

Designer: Kenji Abe

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3D-Printed Power Protectors

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The latest from designer Kenji Abe, this clever collection of 3D printed objects aims to safeguard your plugs and sockets when you’re not using them. In a myriad of artistic styles and color options, there are different covers to keep your metal connectors covered to keep them from bending or being damaged. The others insert directly into the socket to ensure they stay free of lint or tiny fingers! Use them as organizational tools for cords and other workspace items or simply as decor that doubles to protect your power devices!

Designer: Kenji Abe

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