Yukihito Tabata, Director of Tokyo Gallery + BTAP and Takeshi Ishiguro’s dialogue was recorded on May 11th, 2010.  This is the first part of the dialogue where Takeshi talks about how art and design are positioned within himself.

東京画廊＋BTAPの田畑幸人氏と石黒猛氏の２０１０年５月１１日の対話が録画されました。この第一部では、石黒氏が自分の中でのアートとデザインの区分けについて語ります。

How it came to be

I created this  for the 50th anniversary event of the International House of Japan in Roppongi.   I was inspired by the sites  large open space and beautiful Japanese garden to create something not artificial but will harmonizing with that nature.   The beautiful autumn sky and that gave me an idea of emphasizing that very sky blue.

What it does

Smoke rings pop out automatically from a box  every 5 minutes. The smoke shapes into a perfect circle first and gets transformed immediately depending on the wind etc. When there is no wind, it goes straight up to the sky keeping its shape until it finally disappears.  The smoke ring is capable of shooting into the sky about 50m if there is no wind. It’s very beautiful.

Production

It all started when I was a child fascinated with my father spouting cigarette-smoke-rings.  So for this project, I experimented with a small box at home, and gradually enlarged its size.

There are many things inside this box.  A motor and many complicated things.  Great  pressure is created by motor collecting energy pumped into the hole.   Some kind of a whirlpool is then created which finally becomes a smoke ring.

Sale

If you are interested in purchasing this “art” device, please e-mail me at ti@takeshiishiguro.com.

This work is part of the permanent collection at the New York Museum of Modern Art

Background

When I was attending Royal  College of Art in London, I wanted to create something to express my Japanese identity, since everyone else around me were foreigners.    As  finding beauty in a grain of wood, or the texture of straw knit sandals,  the material of any product is very important for Japanese.  I have that kind of feelings for materials too.

Function

It’s a salt and pepper dispensor.

You can see the white salt and black pepper shining through slightly. Crack them open by trying to fold them in the middle.   Because they are made of rice paste, they melt to water at once when you throw them away.   A bird can eat one, and it wouldn’t do him any harm.

Production

I decided to use  rice paste for this, because rice absorbs moisture.

This product was created for Ecological Product Show. It is ecological because it uses less material than the existing porcelain cups. The porcelain has been treated so that it become sponge-like. Because of that, the cut is light in weight, but it still has the usual characteristics of porcelain.

The name, Ice Flake Cup, comes from the pattern created on the surface of the cup during the freeze-dry manufacturing process. This pattern is different each time.

この作品は、エコ展示のために作ったものです。何故エコかというと、使っているマテリアルが少ないから。陶器がスポンジ状になっているのです。スポンジ状になっているため、カップ自体は軽いのですが、陶器の本来の性質である保温性はあります。

アイス･フレーク･カップという名前は、製造過程でフリーズドライした際自然にできる模様氷から来ています。この模様はその都度予想がつかないものです。

This site is currently under construction.  Until it is ready, if you are interested in Takeshi Ishiguro’s works, please visit here.