Nendo: Rain Bottle

Nendo will exhibit at Maison&Objet 2014 the installation “Rain Bottle”, devoted to the many nuances the word “rain” has in the Japanese language.

The Trend Exhibition theme “Words”, asked designers to consider the relationship between language and design.

Nendo chose the word ‘rain’, but considered its many nuances in Japanese, a language that has dozens of words for rain depending on the condition and time of day, as a way to reflect the fine nuances and sensibilities of Japanese as a language.

The installation consists of clear acrylic bottles lined-up, each containing a different kind of ‘rain’. Kirisame, biu and kosame refer to different degrees of fine drizzle, while niwaka-ame is a sudden downpour. Mizore is sleet, and a yudachi falls in the evening. Kisame is rain that drips from the ends of tree branches, and kaiu is rain that falls mixed with dust and pollen. Nendo also included seasonal rains, from the samidare that falls in the spring, to shigure, rain specific to autumn and winter. By exhibiting twenty different kinds of ‘rain’, he wants to express Japanese culture’s unique relationship to nature and the depth of this relationship.