Mentsen | Lines & Surfaces

INSTALLATION
274-275 Upper Street London N1 2UA
24th October - 7th November

twentytwentyone is honoured to host an installation and selling exhibition by Mentsen at the Upper Street store this autumn.

Mentsen is a partnership between Japanese designers Yasuyuki Sakurai and Risa Sano, a London-based practice working between craft and industrial design. Their studio name, Japanese for ‘lines and surfaces’, references work in different mediums and scales, from furniture and product design to one-off handmade objects.

twentytwentyone presents a second series of mobiles made utilising offcuts alongside furniture, lighting, home accessories, and woodblock prints.

The installation highlights the creativity and resourcefulness of their work, all designed and made in their southeast London workshop.

"When working with physical materials, one often finds themselves with surplus odds and ends. Consequently, makers end up with a constant stream of 'other' projects, creative play born from these leftovers. Timber, once part of a unique tree, possesses distinctive features such as knots, colouring, or cracks, rendering them more suitable for certain applications.

While some designs may originate on a blank sheet of paper, these 'other' projects begin with an assessment of what's on hand, a dialogue between makers and materials, asking, 'What can I do with this?' "
- Mentsen

The mobiles are made of ash, beech, cherry, London plane, sycamore, and walnut—wood left over from projects completed by the studio. The abstract forms reveal the natural hues and knots of the timber with some subtle decorative interventions, creating a joyful collection of highly collectable, one-off kinetic sculptures.

Further, two limited-edition woodblock prints accompany this unique collection. The designs are printed by hand on Japanese washi paper using components from the mobile series. Each mobile is a one-off, created for the installation, and the prints are limited to a numbered edition of only 10.

Mentsen also creates a series of self-produced home accessories, such as the reversible Either tray, made in various solid woods, chosen to celebrate the beauty of the timber selected. The collection also includes beautiful and functional soap dishes, trivets, and breadboards that, like the sculptures, utilise studio offcuts.

These accessories are accompanied by larger furniture pieces, also handmade in the Mentsen workshop. The Mass lounge chair features an oak frame with linen webbing. The Time for Tea table demonstrates the handsome character of the Douglas Fir timber selected.

The Melina pendant lighting designed by Mentsen for Hand & Eye Studio completes the installation. Initially conceived for a specific project, Melina is an evolution of the Mela light, a glass globe with a central dimple that subtly softens the diffuser. With a form reminiscent of an apple, the glass shade is expertly blown in matte glass, its velvety texture producing a soft glow. The Melina lighting series was awarded the Design Guild Mark in 2022.

We extend our sincere thanks to Yasu and Risa for their support.