Japanese firm Karimoku had already decided to present its new collection Karimoku New Standard alongside the splendid photographs of Shin Suzuki before the earthquake struck. They wanted to surround the small pieces of furniture and objects in wood, designed by Scholten & Baijings, Big-Game, Sylvain Willenz and the Karimoku Design Team, with the calm and intimate everyday life portrayed by the Japanese photographer's pictures. Its art director Teruhiro Yanagihara thought this would reflect the brand's philosophy of creating small objects that play a major role in daily life and make people think about the value of these everyday objects.

The tragedy that struck on 11 March last changed everything in the Japanese people's daily lives and consequently radically altered the collection of pictures that Suzuki, originally from Fukushima, decided to bring to Milan. We even thought of not coming to Milan, explains Koji Yokoi of Karimoku, but then we decided the best thing we could do was carry on and offer our assistance through our work and by telling people about the tragedy. ES

Galleria Suzy Shammah
via San Fermo/via Moscova 25, Milan
12-17.04.2011