Mimicry Chairs by Nendo at the V&A

Mimicry Chairs by Nendo

London Design Festival: white metal chairs are stacked in a tower and clustered on staircases around the V&A museum as part of an installation by Japanese design studio Nendo (+ slideshow).

Above photograph is by Daici Ano

The Mimicry Chairs are made from pressed and punched metal finished in white – an intentionally simple design which stands out from the museum's ornate interior.

Above photograph is by Daici Ano

Each installation responds to its own space in the museum, with chairs joined together by variously sized backrests to reflect picture frames on the walls, or stacked up high near an outdoor staircase.

"The museum offered us eleven different spaces and they told us to choose one, but we said that we wanted to use all of them," said Oki Sato of Nendo at the press preview on Friday. "So we took one chair and let it evolve throughout the museum."

Above photograph is by Daici Ano

Other installations at the museum as part of London Design Festival include Prism by Keiichi Matsuda, a digital installation that visualises data streams from across the city, and The Journey of a Drop by Rolf Sachs, in which drops of coloured ink fall from a great height into a tank of water.

The museum is also showing four pieces of contemporary furniture recently acquired for its permanent collection, including the Bone chaise and its mould by Joris Laarman.

Above photograph is by Daici Ano

The new Dark Noon watch from Nendo has just launched and is now available to buy from the Dezeen Watch Store.

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Photographs are by Susan Smart except where otherwise stated.

Above photograph is by Daici Ano

Here's some more information from the V&A:

Nendo’s Mimicry Chairs comprise a series of elegant chair installations appearing in varying locations throughout the Museum.

Japanese design studio Nendo has created a simple chair archetype made from pressed and punched metal painted white giving it an almost ghost-like appearance.

These chairs will be placed within the Grand Entrance and further locations throughout the Museum including galleries, staircases and corridors.

At each site, the chair is modified to mimic the space it inhabits and the objects around it. In some locations visitors may sit on the chairs and observe and appreciate the collections from different perspectives.

London Design Festival map

The map above is taken from Dezeen's guide to the London Design Festival, which lists all the events going on across the city this week. We'll be updating it over the coming days with extra information on our highlights so keep checking back. Explore the larger version of this map here.