Mentsen

Save the date!! We are having a mini show @unit.d__ from 3rd to 7th of June. More info closer to the opening, but please join us on Wednesday 3rd for opening drink, or the rest of the opening hours for tea and a chat. This is a photo Risa took from the Tea Building in Shoreditch 2003. If we remember correctly, we first met Duncan, the founder of Unit-d, at Designersblock in 2002 and 2003, when we were still students and worked there as exhibition stewards. Duncan was herding stewards 🐑… The 2003 Designersblock event was held at the Tea Building during the London Design Festival, just prior to the building’s major renovation by Derwent London. It was still a raw industrial building and was amazing to see into the vast closed construction area across the street. It is very sweet to have this opportunity to work together after so many years. Thanks Duncan, for asking us to take a part in your program — looking forward to it!

Looking back to MDW 2026 - last one! Thanks to lovely curators Layuhl and Michele of @smallsmallspace , our Little Tova step stool and breadboard was a part of this sweetest exhibition in a @c_o_n_v_e_y building. Image 1-7 by Marcello Maranzan @marcellomaranzan Last slides by Michele Foti @inneromodo - From Small Small website: Small Small Space gallery presents Casa Small, a group exhibition that investigates the relationship between objects and needs, between daily actions and space inside a small imaginary apartment. Under this pretext, the gallery selected the work of eight designers, with the idea that you can live well even in a small space, that the quality of living is not necessarily dictated by the space, but by how you use it. The function of objects, as well as their essential and non-excessive nature, helps us make every action targeted and waste-free, making every day’s movements almost a game of interlocking. Casa Small will be hosted by Convey during Milan Design Week 2026 JULIE RICHOZ MICHAEL MARRIOT YUN LI ROBIN BOURGEOIS THELONIUS GOUPIL MICHEL CHARLOT RASMUS PALMGREN MENTSEN ELOI GOULHOT

Looking back to MDW 2026 — part 3 We’ve been working with Zilio A&C for many years now, and for their new product presentation at Salone del Mobile that took place last week in Milan, we again designed their exhibition stand. We always opt for a light construction to avoid excessive waste. But this year the contractor refused to re-use the MDF floor tiles we have been re-using for the last 4 years. It is understandable that re-using used material is a lot more work. Although it would have been nice if we could push for 5th year! This year, Cannella, a new chair we designed for the company, was at the centre stage of the presentation. And the stand design with curved curtain walls was much reflected from the inspirations and references we collected while designing the chair. We looked at Italian and European cafe-bars from the early 20th century, somewhere between the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods, and notably Joseph Hoffmann’s ‘cabaret fledermaus’ armchairs and the Wiener Werkstätte. The colorful stand was partly to channel that experimental and progressive time from the era, as well as our attempt to express the energy and palette from the Italian industrial design scene from the 70s and 80s. @zilioaec - - Presentation this year featured design by @alessandrostabile.studio @notedesignstudio @tomokoazumi @simonkaempfer - - Looking forward to talk more about Cannella chairs soon when all the fine tunings are done and ready!!

Looking back to MDW 2026 - part 2 Ensemble bench we designed for @vergesdesign was a part of their beautiful presentation this year at Salone del Mobile. Huge thanks to Jordi, everyone at Vergés, and @emilianadesign 💛 - Among all furniture typologies, nothing more than ‘bench’ may be an object that’s charged with shared memories – for it being communal seating, where people come to do activities together, such as dining, working, and praying etc. In designing this bench, the idea of ‘sitting together’ was an obvious utility purpose, but also an important sentiment or impression that the object should communicate. Ensemble is a warm and timeless bench crafted from solid wood. Its design is inspired by vernacular church benches and other traditional communal seating. Our brief was to design the bench with modularity and versatility. It is available with or without a backrest, in various lengths, and includes connecting elements that allow for both linear and angled configurations. A small swivel side table can also be added for extra functionality. Both the seat and backrest can be upholstered to enhance comfort, while also introducing colour, texture, and warmth. Ensemble is designed to suit a wide range of environments, from cafés and restaurants to waiting areas and informal breakout spaces in public or collaborative settings.

Looking back to Milan Design Week 2026 - part 1 We were super happy our Bacchette folding chair designed for Zilio A&C was one of 40+ chairs in the fantastic SOFT FOLD exhibition curated by Davide Biancucci & Guglielmo Campeggi. Even without our chair in it, it was the best show we’ve seen in this year’s design week. You might have guessed that we love canvas chairs and folding chairs — and guess which chair was the inspiration behind ours 🤭 The exhibition poster now proudly on our studio wall. Thank you so much @davide_biancucci @ugulli for a great show and @zilioaec for providing Bacchette. - - SOFT FOLD – Non chronological non ordinary non exhaustive non alphabetical non comprehensive investigation on canvas folding chairs SOFT FOLD is a research project conducted by designer Davide Biancucci, focused on canvas folding chairs. First presented in 2025 with a namesake exhibition in collaboration with Campeggi, the research now expands with a second edition, involving new designers and companies whose works have contributed, either in continuity or in contrast, to the evolution of this seating typology. Developed as a physical archive, it was conceived as a tool for typological comparison, documenting continuity, variations, and diversity in design solutions.

. “House of Lens 2026” -Unseen Japan- Mentsen @mentsen 木工作家｜ イギリス•ロンドン Curated by TANA (@tanashop___ ) @allaboutlloyd_ （キュレーター／チリ） @kathleenleen （金工作家／スコットランド） Mentsenは、UKと日本のクラフトマンシップをつなぐプラットフォームTanaの一員として参加するデザイナーの一人です。 ロンドンを拠点に活動するデザインスタジオ、Mentsen（メントセン）。 2011 年、桜井靖幸と佐野梨沙によって設⽴されました。 クラフトとインダストリアルデザインのあいだを横断しながら、家具やプロダクト、⼀点もののオブジェ、さら には平⾯作品に⾄るまで、多様なスケールとメディアで表現を展開しています。 「線と⾯」を意味するその名の通り、ミニマルな構成の中に宿る緊張感と美しさ。 そこにさりげなく差し込まれるユーモアとウィットが、作品に静かな奥⾏きを与えています。 効率性とエレガンスを追求したその造形は、⽇常の中に新たな視点と余⽩をもたらします。 They are one of the designers participating as part of the TANA platform. Mentsen is a London-based design studio founded in 2011 by Yasuyuki Sakurai and Risa Sano. Working between craft and industrial design, they create furniture, products, one-of-a-kind objects, and two-dimensional works, exploring a wide range of scales and media. As their name, meaning “line and surface,” suggests, their work features minimalist forms with a strong sense of tension and beauty. Subtle humor and wit add a quiet depth to each piece. Their designs pursue efficiency and elegance, bringing fresh perspectives and a sense of space into everyday life. ________________________ House of Lens 2026 -Unseen Japan- ▪️Dates Day 1 : May 3 (Sun) 11:00‒18:00 Day 2 : May 4 (Mon) 11:00‒17:00 ▪️Place Sogo-Kinenkan（蒼梧記念館） 1-1-1 Kyuden, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 10-minute walk from Sengawa Station (Keio Line) 15-minute walk from Chitose-Karasuyama（Keio Line）

📣 Milan Design Week is coming up next week 💨 We are happy to announce that we have two of our works in the Rho Fiera (hall 18), and also included in two exhibitions curated by lovely people in the town. Looking forward to having gelato every day and to seeing you if you are visiting Milan this year! - - - 1-2 CANNELLA Sketches of new upholstered dining and lounge armchair designed for Zilio A&C. @ZilioAeC Rho Fiera, Hall 18 Stand E05 3-4 ENSEMBLE Modular bench designed for Vergés which was soft launched in Valencia last September, and second image from earlier development. @vergesdesign Rho Fiera, Hall 18 Stand B07 5-6 LITTLE TOVA & BREAD BOARD Our step stool and breadboard will be featured in “Casa Small”, a special project curated by lovely Small Small Space team at Convey @smallsmallspace @c_o_n_v_e_y Via San Senatore 10 7-8 BACCHETTE Folding chair we designed for Zilio A&C will be featured in “SOFT FOLD – Non chronological non ordinary non exhaustive non alphabetical non comprehensive investigation on canvas folding chairs”, curated by Davide Biancucci & Guglielmo Campeggi @davide_biancucci @dropcity_org Dropcity – Via Sammartini 54 Milan - - -

Trivet in dark brown stained ash Available from our online shop - Made with leftover strips of timber from our furniture making projects.

🥁🥢🥖 Bacchette folding chair We have a few available on our online shop! Bring Bacchette to outside and inside 🌞 - Designed for and manufactured by @zilioaec Folding safari chair and director’s chair as a modern chair typology has been well established during 20th century. Bacchette is our exploration into a new, contemporary interpretation of those chairs while maintaining their familiarity and the emotional quality. We found fascinating that these typology of chairs remind us of warmer weather and perhaps an evening spent outdoor, and that is quite unique for a chair to invoke fairly universal emotional connections. What makes Bacchette chair striking yet familiar is the beech wood sticks that form backrest and short arms that seem almost floating with minimal steel folding structure that are barely visible. We studied the structure carefully to leave only the essential elements, and the material choices were made based on their functional and tactile qualities with attentions to sustainability.

Currently shown at the 3rd edition of Proof of Concept show at Aram Gallery in London, I-beam is a suspended beam light with wooden I-beam housing a modern LED light source, with a sheet of handmade paper with deckle edges attached as a diffuser. The project was developed in collaboration with us, Hand & Eye Studio, a lighting manufacturer based in Devon, and Paper Foundation, makers of fine handmade paper in Cambria. The LED strips are housed on the wooden I-beam in cherry or maple, with an option of single and double lengths. Paper is attached to the beam with a steel wire ring and magnet, making it easy to rearrange the way paper is hung, or in case of replacing the sheet. The I-beam will be available from Hand & Eye later this year. - - With the context of this exhibition, showcasing different methods of moulding materials in manufacturing processes, our work is not about designing shapes produced in mould, but utilising material made in mould, and learning about its craft. Traditional European papermaking employs a two-part wooden tool, a mould and a deckle, to form individual sheets of paper from pulp slurry. The mould features a wire mesh (traditionally brass) attached to a wooden frame to capture fibres while the detachable deckle frame defines the paper’s edge creating a characteristic “deckle edge”. Paper making arrived in Europe in the 13th century, and they used cotton and linen rags – finely chopped up recycled fabric unlike Washi papers which use inner bark fibres of plants. And with the development of a rigid mould system, it produced thick smooth paper. Today the Paper Foundation makes paper with surplus fabric collected from fabric mills nearby, and natural fibres such as hemp and flax. To use the sheet as a diffuser for our lighting, we selected a warmer cotton paper and a whiter paper with high linen contents, especially produced for the I-beam, for better transmittance of light, which is fitted on the single maple version on the gallery display now. - - @handandeyestudio @paper.foundation @proofofconcept.show @aramgalleryldn Image 6-7: @markslater_photography

I-beam by @mentsen Proof of Concept #3 Mould On view now until 18th April 2026 Aram, 110 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5SG Monday – Saturday, 10am – 6pm

Little Tova step stool, made by us in SE London, with British grown ash, hand painted in green 💚