Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka will present a chair made of natural crystals at Second Nature, an exhibition he is directing at 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo later this month.

The chair is "grown" in a tank as crystals form on a sponge-like substrate.

The top two images  show the process of making a small prototype version of the chair, which is called Venus - Natural Crystal Chair. The images below show the making of a full-size chair.

The Second Nature exhibition features work by Yoshioka as well as invited designers including Ross Lovegrove and the Campana Brothers.

Second Nature runs from 17 October to 18 January 2009. Below: exhibition poster.

Below is information about the exhibition:

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Second Nature – Born of Memory: Thinking About the Future of Design

Nature shows us a beauty that exceeds our imagination. On the other hand, it contains a strength that is sometimes frightening. The forms of nature are unique and cannot be reproduced. This endows them with mysterious beauty and makes them fascinating to us.

I believe that a design is not something that is completed through being given a form, but rather something that is completed by the human heart. I also feel that incorporating the principles and movements of nature into ideas will become something important in future design. I am sometimes surprised at how people who have seen my space installations talk to me about them while seeming to superimpose these works on the natural phenomena that they themselves have experienced.

So, what are the forms of nature that are evoked by human experience? In order to ponder this question in collaboration with others, in the “Second Nature” exhibition I have enlisted the participation of seven designers and artists who have demonstrated exceptional talent. Their works each convey the mysterious power of nature and life. In one work, a plant sealed in ice freshly conveys the life force. In another, a liquid seems to transform, producing hitherto unknown structures.

While some works make one imagine the strange landscapes that have surrounded people, others incorporate phenomena that occur by chance. In addition to these works, there is a cloud-like installation that envelops the entire exhibit space, allowing visitors to view a range of experimental pieces.

Future designs created by fusing technology and the life force with the imaginative powers that spring up from the “nature” that exists deep in each person’s memory; future-oriented ideas born from once again inquiring of the Earth – that is the “second nature” that I envision. - Tokujin Yoshioka, Exhibition Director