Brackets by Nendo for Kokuyo

Product news: Japanese design studio Nendo has come up with a modular office furniture system with tall backrests for extra privacy (+ movie).

Above: movie shows various configurations of the modules

Created for Japanese office furniture and supplies brand Kokuyo, the Brackets sofa and table units by Nendo are intended to surround their users "like parentheses."

The seven sofa types and four table types can be combined into numerous combinations, from rows of alternately facing single seats to compact meeting booths.

At 140 centimetres tall, the backrests screen the occupants and provide privacy as well as dampening surrounding noise.

Other products launched by Nendo recently include bent wood chairs that flick out as if they're wearing capes and a series of 30 lamps made from a modular set of parts – see all design by Nendo.

Earlier this month we reported on the studio's mountain range of laser-cut foamboard installed at Stockholm Design Week, where Nendo was guest of honour – see all news and products from Stockholm 2013.

Photographs by Akihiro Yoshida.

Here's some more information from the designers:

Brackets

An office-use unit sofa designed to create a communication space by 'bracketing' its inhabitants like parentheses.

Users can freely combine the seven sofa types and four table types into a variety of spaces with a finely tuned balance of openness and privacy, concentration and relaxation and individuals and groups.

The sofas are composed of sharp outer lines and softer inner curves, so that they respect the mood of the office environment while providing for user comfort.

The height of the backrests, relatively tall at 1400mm, provides visual privacy and dampens the surrounding noise, allowing for focussed conversations.