Ribbon is the title of a new candelabra by Japanese designer Shin Azumi for British homeware brand Innermost.
Exhibited as a prototype in Milan earlier this year, Ribbon is now in production and will be launched at 100% Design in London this September.
The following is from Innermost:
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The creation of Ribbon was a true labour of love for Innermost and designer Shin Azumi. Inspired by the challenge of creating a 21st century redesign of the candlestick, Shin came up with a work of grace and simplicity. Both Shin and Innermost wanted a design that would still be relevant 200 years into the future; something people would use and pass on to the next generation.
Innermost managed the complex process of translating Shin’s vision into solid form – involving investment casting, handcrafting, and a lot of polishing. The first 2 sets of tools failed and it took a series of innovations to solve the problems and get it right.
Launched as a prototype at the Milan fair in 2008, Ribbon is currently available in polished stainless steel. The factory Innermost chose to work with reckon this is the most complex investment casting they have ever undertaken and the item needed a lot of complex jigging and a special support structure in wax that forms with the design when metal is poured and is cut away after cooling and recycled.
One of the other simple things that came from this project was almost zero wastage; a single material using a single process where if the items don’t form correctly they are returned to the smelter and if they are damaged during polishing they either get polished more or returned to the smelter.
Dia. 297mm x h 181mm
Stainless steel, mirror finish