Smoke rings, emotional trees & conceptual products

28 Apr 2006 Category: Features, Japan, Products, Technology

Smoke rings, emotional trees & conceptual products

Emotional Trees installation

How could someone wrap up Takeshi Ishiguro’s work in one sentence? The former product designer for IDEO now works on his own back in Japan, dedicating his full time to experimental technology, conceptual products and beautiful installations. PingMag was very lucky to talk to him about screaming drinks, emotional trees and a performance in almost zero gravity.

written by Chiemi
translated by Junko

Ishiguro-san, your final project you completed your studies at the RCA London with became part of the permanent collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art right away! Very impressive! Could you tell us a little about this very first product called “Salt and Pepper”?

Salt and Pepper

I wanted to create something in which I could express my Japanese identity, since everyone else around me was a foreigners. That environment in London just made me think about my origin. For Japanese the material of a product is very important. For instance, they can find beauty in a grain of wood, or get into the texture of straw knitting Waraji (straw sandals).

I respect those feelings for material. My final work is a salt and pepper dispensor made from rice paste, because rice absorbs moisture. The first prototype cracked too easily and was then improved to this style at the end. That was in 1994.

Salt and Pepper

You can see the white salt and black pepper shining through slightly. Crack them open by trying to fold them in the middle.

Beautiful! And environment-friendly, too!

Yes, they melt to water at once when you throw them away and even if a bird would eat one, it wouldn’t do him any harm. Here is my second version, which is also refillable.

Salt and Pepper, refillable version

You now produce more artistic and conceptual products, a mixture of collaboration and technology, exhibition. You also do stage direction. I find it hard to draw a line between art and product design here. A little bit of a borderline case maybe!?

I think that the world becomes more interesting without those kinds of borderlines. In that case, a theme would be how you can bring your work to daily life. But, in fact, various problems happen when you create “product”. In the end, you may not be able to create your work even though it is interesting and beautiful, because you have to think about its interchangeability or your company’s brand image. I think that is sad.

Your “Smoke Ring” installation - launching a big smoke ring into the sky - is one of your most striking works. How did you come up with the idea?

In 2002, I was asked to create a work for the 50th anniversary event of the International House of Japan in Roppongi. When I took a look at the site the large open space and beautiful Japanese garden made me want to create something not artificial but harmonizing with that nature. I looked up the beautiful autumn sky and that gave me an idea of emphasizing that very sky blue.


Smoke Ring

Smoke Ring

What a beautiful story! I saw the work in the photograph, but what exactly happens on the site?

I created a machine which pops out smoke rings automatically from a box which is placed in the large garden - 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. It’s very beautiful.

Some people lay down watching them for a long time.

Can you tell us a little about the production process of the smoke rings?

I was amazed as a child to see cigarette-smoke-rings popping out of my father’s mouth. I later experimented with a small box at home, and gradually enlarged its size. “Smoke Ring” is an all handmade project and there are many things inside this box! A motor and many complicated things, steam… After each 5 minutes, motor and such fall down to create pressure, collect energy pumped into the hole which then creates some kind of a whirlpool which then finally becomes a smoke ring.

Is there anything new under production right now?

Oh, yes! I suddenly began wondering, “What can I do with this computer?” and in a second I was disassembling it… about an hour before you came! Now I created this monitor whithout it’s backlight. Wouldn’t it be beautiful if you place this monitor in front of a window and allow natural sunlight to display your texts, or see clouds and rain with sunlight through your screen?


monitor with natural backlight through a window, prototype

fountain of mercury, prototype

The other one is a fountain of mercury (quicksilver) which is also still a prototype. Mercury behaves very different to water, shaping grains, drops and little pearls. These ripple here look really mysterious! I always liked mercury as a material, and wanted to use it to make something beautiful.

I create things whenever I feel “excitement”, which is my base for creating anything. Actually, I often have no idea of what my work is going to be like when I start working. I can say that all of my works are accidental discovery!

Well, it seems like you have various ideas standing around?

Yes, there are a lot. I try to store as many as I can because you never know when to get any requests. Let me introduce some of them - but before that: Would you like a drink?

Oh, thank you very much.

….

CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING……

(When trying to touch the aluminum can standing on a metallic board, a loud sound scared me away.)

… Wow! What on earth is this?

That was one of my raw ideas. The principle of the theremin, a musical instrument, is used to make this can work as an antenna to create the sound the closer you get. My work “Love sofa” was made based on this idea, too.

Love Sofa - which works like a Theremin

Oh, yes! “Love sofa” is this installation which makes a sound when two people sitting on the sofa touch each other, correct? The closer they get, the louder the sound grows. How does it work?

There is an aluminum board in the part where a couple sits on the sofa and the couple basically works as an antenna. I was playing with this drink-kit first, putting various things on it and then realized, that this would also work with humans.

You also created a work called “Emotional tree”. Would you tell us a little how that works?

It is a tree with four colored lights and a sensor. Trees have feelings, and the sensor picks up the emotional signal of the tree to decide how to change the lighta. Under normal conditions, the tree is lit in blue, but they can also change to red or white when the sensor perceives something.


Emotional Tree - changing its lights according to signals picked up by the tree

Emotional Tree - changing its lights according to signals picked up by the tree

Emotional Tree - changing its lights according to signals picked up by the tree

Emotional Tree - changing its lights according to signals picked up by the tree

What does the sensor percieve then? Temperature change?

The trees really do have feelings! It has been researched actively in the U.S. since 50’s. There is actually a case where the police installed a lie-detector to a plant which “saw” a criminal of a murder at the scene - and the detector read the tree’s reaction when meeting the suspect again. It uses the same mechanism as the electro-encephalograph that picks up a slight electric current that flows inside of a body. There are several kinds of theories such as trees recognizing the person who waters the tree regularily, or detecting fear from fire. By the way, the reaction dulls when a person stays close to a tree for a long time. That’s because trees get used to the person.

Whow! Truly emotional trees! I didn’t know…
What is this leaf about?

Leaf plate - plate made from a real leaf

This is a plate made from a real leaf. I invented a unique way to form the leaf beautifully, but I can’t tell you how I did it… it’s a top secret! With my technique, the delicate veins and a nice three-dimensional shape can be kept and the leaf-plate is as strong as a normal paper plate!

the original leaf on the left and the transformed, strengthened leaf on the right

The leaf on the left shows the leaf before the treatment, and the right one is after. I tried to obtain the color as much as I could although it will gradually become a little brownish by absorbing moisture…

This next project looks like a clock of some sort…?

It is a counter that moves by magnetism. I was aiming to make a clock in the beginning, though… This dark surface is actually a crushed magnet which protrudes. I already got the patent for it even though I am still not sure what to do with it. Funny, don’t you think? I am still working on that one…


crushed magnet powder protuding…

to reveal numbers or letters

further protuding..

…and even further

You handle stage production as well! Is that a combination of your other work with performance? Or is it something completely different?

I’m interested in the relation between humans and things. Therefore the basic idea is allow performers to use my works on in order to express something on stage. For instance, I made a 3 m diameter balloon filled with helium. The balloon had the buoyancy of about 30kg, which means that the dancer basically got 30kg “lighter”. That way, he could jump incredibly high.


giant helium balloon…

…enabling performers to jump really high!

It is almost like a space walk: you don’t get hurt even if you fail to jump off from a high place. Not easy to move, though…

That sounds like you can make all kinds of things with this in the future.

I think I will, too. I want to make things that don’t deviate from daily life.

I also directed a different performance of weightlessness, which we actually chartered an airplane for. The interior was changed entirely for the performance, clothes and walls were especially designed as well.

performers and glittery paper snippets floating in almost zero gravity

This project originally started from an idea of bringing art activity to a space station. It became a huge project because we worked with the cooperation of the National Space Development Agency of Japan.

We had almost zero gravity for a limited amount of time. A peace of paper usually falls down rather quickly, but these silver pieces stayed and glittered in the air. They looked very mysterious.

I am touched by the beauty and fantasy in your work - and humor, too actually!

Takeshi Ishiguro at his desk

To me, old science fictions are really fun, like a car flying in the sky, or a toast flies into your mouth when you wake up… I always hope to create things like these to make people happy.

Ishiguro-san: Thank you very much for sharing your wonderful works with us.

29 Comments

  1. Ishiguro is totally rad. I had never heard of him before this article but I’m a huge admirer now :)

    Posted by: augustus on April 28th, 2006 at 10:39 pm

  2. Thanks for sharing your work. It is beautiful, novel and innovative!

    Posted by: CnG on April 29th, 2006 at 7:38 am

  3. I especially like the refillable salt/pepper dispensers. very cool!

    Posted by: tyler on April 29th, 2006 at 1:42 pm

  4. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I wonder where Ping keeps digging out all these supreme people. Thanks for introducing those to us, guys! Big thumbs up for Mr. Ishiguro! I wonder what it takes to convince someone to allow you to perform an installation/dance in an airplane with zero gravity! Mad! He must have used hypnotic powers and just jumped onto the plane without asking…..

    Posted by: lk773 on April 29th, 2006 at 3:25 pm

  5. That’s really really cool!! I love the smoke ring in the garden idea…

    Posted by: Laynie on April 29th, 2006 at 11:39 pm

  6. I agree the smoke rings are great, I like the magnetism idea - good luck with finalizing it!

    Posted by: Edouard on April 30th, 2006 at 12:32 am

  7. Thanks alot for this article! That guy has some ideas!

    @lk773: like space flight or nuclear submarine dives you can buy this in Russia for relatively cheap money. other things i’ve heard about is flying in a MIG or shooting from a tank. luckily, launching nuclear missiles at a target of your choice doesn’t seem to be on that list :)

    Posted by: sounddesignz on April 30th, 2006 at 7:13 am

  8. thanks for the tip! space flight sounds good! wondering how to convince my company to sponsor THAT!

    about the nuclear/military things… no thanks ;-)

    Posted by: lk773 on April 30th, 2006 at 6:56 pm

  9. Wow, what wonderful creations!

    Posted by: Sara on May 1st, 2006 at 9:28 am

  10. wow! Takeshi Ishiguro is fantastic! totally inspiring and such a diverse range of creativity!

    Posted by: tim on May 1st, 2006 at 5:09 pm

  11. humbly submitted

    Posted by: michael a. salter on May 3rd, 2006 at 12:03 am

  12. such people give hope to others

    Posted by: spoon on May 9th, 2006 at 7:04 pm

  13. [...] Smoke Rings into the Sky – Interactive designer Takeshi Ishiguro’s installation in International House of Japan in Roppongi. http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/04/28/takeshi-ishiguro/ [...]

    Posted by: Joft6 - Japoni Maponi by bbk on July 21st, 2006 at 6:43 pm

  14. He’s done some interesting work.

    The crushed magnet powder looks very similar to ferrofluid:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrofluid

    Posted by: Sebastien Bailard on August 6th, 2006 at 2:19 pm

  15. Fantastic. I was very moved by the of the conceptual design and emotional trees. Masaru Emoto has done a similar kind of scientific study about behaviour of water.

    Posted by: ヤーッコ on August 6th, 2006 at 10:30 pm

  16. [...] http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/04/28/takeshi-ishiguro/ Comments » [...]

    Posted by: concave :: smoke rings :: August :: 2006 on August 19th, 2006 at 12:21 am

  17. [...] http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/04/28/takeshi-ishiguro/ [...]

    Posted by: concave :: smoke rings :: August :: 2006 on August 20th, 2006 at 12:12 am

  18. The leaft plate was über cool! I really wish I could test out the strength and durability of the plate! The fact that the veins and everything else is preserved even after it’s reshaping into 3D is totally amazing.

    Posted by: zerogun on August 23rd, 2006 at 5:22 am

  19. god!i like!how wonderful!
    the clock ..oh!magical thing and magical men!
    like Spoon said”such people give hope to others”..surely…

    Posted by: dee on August 30th, 2006 at 10:44 pm

  20. your work is beautiful, and LOVE!

    Posted by: yeohgh on October 5th, 2006 at 11:37 am

  21. [...] “アーティスト”や“プロダクト・デザイナー”というかしこまった肩書きよりも、“ロマンを追い求める発明家”という呼び方の方がしっくりくる、石黒猛（イシグロ・タケシ）。空に高く上ってゆく煙を作るインスタレーション「スモークリング」に代表される彼の作品の数々には、子供の頃に見た夢の世界が見え隠れする。ベルギー、ロンドン、サンフランシスコと世界中を駆け巡り、今また日本で活動する彼が、暖かなある春の日に、Pingmagにたくさんの素敵な作品を見せてくれた。 [...]

    Posted by: TOCA ME blog - a design blog » pingmag interview with takeshi ishiguro on October 24th, 2006 at 10:53 pm

  22. cualquier idea de una persona, puede ser realizada!

    Posted by: guacamay on November 2nd, 2006 at 12:06 am

  23. [...] This room humidifier in cute mini-chimney-shape is designed by the Japanese design team iiii (pronounced i-i 4). One of their members is the stuning inventor Takeshi Ishiguro, who was featured on PingMag a little while ago. This page shows how the chimney works: a carefully designed element for your living room! We are not sure your kids believe that this is a “real” chimney, but we are sure that this product protects your family from dry air! [...]

    Posted by: PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about "Design and Making Things" » Archive » 10 last minute Christmas presents on December 22nd, 2006 at 6:03 pm

  24. [...] Designers Interview of Takeshi Ishiguro at PingMag. He discribes his work in conceptual and digital products. Filed under Design News having [...]

    Posted by: IDasia.org | Networking the Best Multi-Disciplinary Industrial Designers in Asia » Blog Archive » Design News Network: Week 16, 2007 on April 19th, 2007 at 10:17 am

  25. [...] Takeshi Ishiguro e está a venda por US$ 95,00 na Artecnica. Leia uma entrevista com o designer na PingMag. Fonte: Apartment Therapy. Tags: abajur, book, illumination, iluminação, lighting design e [...]

    Posted by: Rodrigo Barba » Blog Archive » Luminária que saí de dentro de livro | web2.0, publicidade, arquitetura, design, comunicação, jogos de tabuleiro entre outros on September 15th, 2007 at 2:52 am

  26. Will you be selling the leaf plates?
    evenovak@yahoo.com

    Posted by: Eve on December 29th, 2007 at 3:04 am

  27. [...] love it when designers recreate an experience in a product. In Takeshi Ishiguro case, he turns the experience of turning a lamp “on and off” to “opening and [...]

    Posted by: Designverb - Book of Light Lamp on January 8th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

  28. [...] our trip to Tokyo we had the luck to visit Takeshi Ishiguro’s studio. His work ranges from the Book of Lights (simple electronic pop up books) to a [...]

    Posted by: David Benqué » Blog Archive » Takeshi Ishiguro on February 23rd, 2009 at 2:14 am

  29. [...] For him, designing and engineering are inseparable. There is no particular order to the way he works, in terms of planning, or ideas, or trial and error. Come to think of it, perhaps trial and error comes first. In any case he likes trying things out; that seems to just be his nature. Takeshi Isihguro（Interview in pingmag) [...]

    Posted by: Freeze Fired - Living World on November 18th, 2009 at 11:10 am

  • Share and Enjoy:
  • del.icio.us
  • digg
  • Fark
  • NewsVine
  • RawSugar
  • Reddit
  • YahooMyWeb
Previously on PingMag