The space soon attracted the attention of Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake. "He started showing up every month with his friends, or pulling up in a bus with his entire staff," says Sato. For Nendo, the attention was a career maker. In 2008, Miyake sent Sato a roll of rippled paper - a manufacturing by - product of the designers well - known pleated textile - and asked him to design a chair from it. The result was Cabbage chair, in which users fold back layers to form a seat, and its launch announced Nendos emergence on the global stage. The following year, the studio created 24 Issey Miyake, a series of shops modelled on a convenience store. "Mr. Miyake wanted a lot of colour, and he wanted to pile up his products randomly," says Sato. "The rest was open to us."
Last year, Nendo expanded on the 24 concept with a walk - through retail space in Shibuyas Parco shopping centre, designed specifically to showcase Miyakes Bilbao handbags. The designers created shelving by fixing vertical clusters of industrial - stock steel rods into the floor, forming a pinpoint surface over which the flexible bags slouch like gurus restingcomfortably on a bed of nails. Additional holes were drilled into the floor, so the boutiques staff can periodically rearrange the clusters to "refresh" the store.
Adaptability, and Satos own unhurried manner, which belies the studios impressive output, dominates our discussion. On becoming an architect: "I scanned a list of university fields and decided that architecture was the least unpalatable choice." On his intended audience: "I dont think about designing for a specific user." On Nendos transition from designing restaurants and houses to retail shops and products: "We just started getting more commissions for interiors and products." With Sato, there is much shrugging, and you get the sense that hes often abit embarrassed not to have a better story behind his own choices, even though storytelling fuels much of what he creates. But theres also some cheekiness at play. On his job description: "It depends on what a magazine calls me. Whatever they say - architect, interior designer, industrial designer - I guess thaf s what I am."
He was born in Toronto, and though his family moved to Tokyo when he was 10 he confesses to still feeling like agaijin - a foreigner. "Like taking off your shoes in Japan, thats very interesting to me," he says. "The line for that is just after you enter a room, but what if I redrew the line somewhere else; how would people react?" I glance under the table and notice that he is still wearing his pointed black leather loafers. "See, Im changing the rules," he says with a laugh.
Footwear and the perception of the everyday come together in Nendos most recent interior project, for Puma. The sneaker house commissioned the studio to design a subterranean space in Tokyo, just down the street from Herzog & de Meurons Prada showroom, to serve as a press room and an all - purpose setting for presentations and parties. "While riding the subway, I would notice all these shoes moving over the stairs," says Sato, "so I decided stairs would be a good place to showcase shoes and to give them this sense of movement."
At Puma House, stairs wrap around columns and arch across walls, becoming the venue for displaying the companys sneakers and bags. Sato even placed steps on the ceiling of the long staircase that brings visitors down from street level into the 300 - square - metre space, and affixed shoes to the ceiling, upside down. "Nendo is especially well known in fashion circles, but it still has a fresh image, very young and energetic," says Harumi Suzuki, Puma Japans head of press, who was hosting a group of smartly dressed clients on the morning that I visited the space.
The energy percolating in Nendos young staff of twentysomethings means the studio never stands still. Feeling that their product work had become too focused on extremes - either mass - produced USB keys or one - off gallery projects - Sato recently returned to a concept Nendo launched five years ago, the One Percent line. The idea is that a production run of 100 represents a nice middle ground. The 2006 collection included such pieces as the Top Gear bottle opener, and the clever Fruit Template "fruit rack." For the second collection, which Nendo plans to roll out in December at Axis Gallery in Tokyo, Sato is currently prototyping with ceramics, exploring tableware in particular.
While we stroll through his studio, we pass Satos own desk, right in the heart of the action. It perfectly exemplifies the scope and method of his obsession. He has been fussing over two large models, one for an upcoming show in Paris and another for an installation in Moscow. Half the desk is cluttered with computer keyboards, because he is tinkering with a new keyboard concept. Nearby is a purple necktie with a Post - it note underneath it. "Are you redesigning the necktie, too?" I ask. He laughs. "No, thats just to remind me to change my tie later. Im going on a Japanese television program tonight. Ive got to dress the part, right?"
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Landscape Design