Jo Nagasaka’s pieces see ‘design as renewing of knowledge’

We were delighted to see his Iro range – named after the Japanese word for colour – nominated for the 2014 Designs of the Year, and now a new show is set to open of his work at London’s Gallery Libby Sellers.

The exhibition will present his Flat Tables pieces, which have been in the pipeline since 2009.

Nagasaka creates the pieces using old workstations and tabletops, which he then renews using his signature coloured resin, which allows the texture of the wood to be seen through its beautiful translucent surface.

The works celebrate the wood’s ‘time-weathered surfaces and the many narratives embedded in these cuts, scratches and abrasions’, says the gallery.

It adds, ‘Throughout this series Nagasaka explores his ongoing interest in finding modern solutions for abandoned objects through poetic re-purposing techniques.’

The series evolved from Nagasaki’s 2008 Sayama Flat floor designs, which saw him create a smooth floor from exposed, lumpy concrete using the epoxy resin.

The designer terms this technique ‘design as renewing of knowledge’.

He says of the Flat Tables, ‘In this case, “renewing the knowledge” means to notice something unseen before, i.e. how the colored liquid gradation reveals a history passed through the table’s surface which is twisted and scratched by time.

 ‘The point [of] this project emerges by adjusting the dysfunctional to functional [in order] to reveal a story and create perceptional beauty.’

Jo Nagasaka Flat Tables runs from 4 July – 15 August at Gallery Libby Sellers, 41-42 Berners St, London W1T 3NB