By WHIMSY CANDLES

Bring on Dodo Chic
A Japanese classic gets a funky update

Dodo is the product of a collaboration between the Swedish design trio CKR and Japanese furniture producer E&Y. A modern interpretation of the zaisu (that little seating unit you may have used the last time you stayed at a ryokan), the Dodo features a round, comfortably cushioned base and strong backrest. It even swivels. E&Y honcho Yoichi Nakamuta claims that its popularity might well extend to Japanese youths, thanks to its PlayStation-posture-friendly design.

As if being a slick, fun piece of furniture weren’t enough, the Dodo has also won serious artistic accolades: The chairs have been exhibited by Dwell Magazine in the US, as well as by the Crafts Council of London, while the Swedish National Museum saw fit to add one to its permanent collection.

¥86,000. Available online at www.eandy.com

It’s Punk, It’s Lacquer
Party boy Koichiro Kimura concentrates on the basics

To say that Koichiro Kimura comes from a family with a 400-year history of producing Japanese wares, a family whose patrons included ruling daimyos—well, that wouldn’t really tell the whole story. Kimura has a punk edge and is always the last one to turn in after a night of carousing.
Ten years of exhibiting at the Frankfurt Ambiente has allowed him to extend his blend of edgy-traditional to Europe as well. More recently, he’s shown at the Milan Furniture Fair, where this year’s “exhibi-show” came complete with an S&M performance and champagne-wielding Italian drag queens.

Penchant for parties aside, Kimura manages a company, Art Craft International, that handles design, production and distribution. He says the foundation of his work rests on shape, color and finish, and his fluorescent stacking pyramid boxes, done in an unusual matte finish, are an apotheosis of these qualities. Sold overseas at Colette, Corso Como 10, the MoMA Shop and Moss, the pieces are available in Japan at the Ozone Living Design Center, downstairs from the Park Hyatt.

¥500-¥25,000. Shinjuku Park Tower, 3-7-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku. Tel: 03-5322-6500. Open Thu-Tue 10:30am-7pm, closed Wed. Nearest stn: Hatsudai stn (Keio line).

East Meets East (Berlin)
Ceramicist Anna Sykora has met her match in Shigeo Mashiro

Photos by Shigeo Mashiro

Some things just don’t go together: bleach and ammonia, excessive tanning and white eyeliner, Andy Warhol and Valerie Solanas. But God bless human perseverance, which keeps us searching for the perfect combinations. If we didn’t, former GDR homegirl and ceramics designer Anna Sykora might have been discouraged from finding a very natural partner in ikebana master Shigeo Mashiro.

After studying in England as well as in her native Germany, Sykora set up a ceramics studio in Berlin. There she not only designs each piece herself, but also throws them on a traditional wheel with Limoges porcelain. Finding inspiration in Japanese textiles, Sykora has designed a special series of bowls and vases that provide a balanced foundation for Mashiro’s ikebana, neither vase nor flower eclipsing the beauty of the other.

Their exhibition is in Kyoto (www.ricordi-sfera.com) from August 11-21, but here in Tokyo, Anna Sykora ceramics are available at Collex Living in Daikanyama.

¥5,750-¥142,800. 1-1-4 Aobadai, Meguro-ku. Tel. 03-5784-5612. Open daily 11am-8pm. Nearest stn: Daikanyama.

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