OKI SATO - Designer of the Year Award Winner 2015

OKI SATO – born in 1977, Canada Designer for the Brand “NENDO”

Designer of the year- nomination at Maison & Object Paris 2015

Designer of the year- nomination at Wallpaper Magazine & Elle Deco International Awards

I discovered this inspirational talent, at the Paris Trade Show “Maison & Object”, where he gives a bit of insight into his approach and source of design. Nendo, meaning “modeling clay’, expresses his desire of having certain flexibility and the ability to reinvent oneself.

At “NENDO”, they work on projects in the fields of Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Interior, Architecture and Furniture Design. Oki Sato believes that good design is when the idea is so easy to explain that a small child would understand it over the phone, without seeing the form, shape or color. His style could probably be described as minimalistic, simple and sort of traditional Japanese design. All though Oki Sato believes that Japanese design can often be a bit too minimalistic, which easily makes it “cold”. He aims is for his designs to reach a certain friendliness and functionality. Functionality being driven by the first three letters of this word “Fun”, always promising a surprise factor and sense of humor – which Oki Sato says, is probably one of the important “spices for his dishes”.

He laughs at his own explanation of where his design source comes from. There are a few things he does every day, religiously. For example, walking his dog, or having his morning coffee or daily noodle soup, always at the same places.

His main inspiration comes from the small differences he starts noticing during the day-to-day routines, and these are the differences that convert into ideas.

Oki Sato believes his sketching is very poor and ‘stupid’, but he has a point when saying that the very elaborate and beautiful sketches sort of ‘blur’ the ideas. Simplicity is easy to understand and ultimately makes an idea a good design.

Oki Sato's design sketches - clear and simple

The finished product

Shop Design by Nendo

Puma Store Design TOKYO