Pure Talents Contest design from Design House Stockholm

Takafumi Nemoto impressed the jury of the Pure Talents Contest back in 2018 with his entry of Bonsai. The fragrance diffuser in the form of intricate, auspicious knots of rattan was chosen as one of the 20 best submissions in the competition for young designers at imm cologne. Now it is available from Design House Stockholm. The contest has already served as the launching pad for a design career for many a participant, as Bonsai’s success story shows.

Design House Stockholm, one of the leading producers of contemporary Scandinavian design products, fell for the handmade creation by the young Japanese talent. The Swedish label announced in the spring that Bonsai was going into production. And this despite the fact that, according to company founder Anders Färdig, Design House Stockholm had never even thought of offering a roof fragrance diffuser before. “But Bonsai completely reinvents this product group, and that is why it fits our philosophy perfectly,” he explains.

With Bonsai, Nemoto gives room fragrance a new aesthetic while paying tribute to a classic Japanese craft tradition at the same time. His poetic fragrance diffusers are crafted from hand-knotted rattan. Nemoto not only employs old craft techniques; he also draws on traditional wisdom as his intricate hand-knotted branches are intended to diffuse both fragrance and good fortune. In Japanese culture, knots and ropes are seen as symbols of the connection between the past and its continuation in the present.

Paired with a simple black stoneware vase, Nemoto’s rattan structures form a decorative ensemble and diffuse the fresh scent of a room that has just been aired. The diffuser is available in three different designs, each with a different expression. Breeze recalls a small tree in the wind, while Blossom brings to mind the form of a flowering branch, and Cloud evokes clouds gently floating by. The soft, flowing shapes are not only beautiful to behold; they preserve the fragrance for longer than the standard straight fragrance sticks.

The scent for Bonsai, which is poured into the vase, was developed jointly by Nemoto and Design House Stockholm. It has a plant base note of bergamot combined with a hint of musk and St John’s Wort. These scents are paired with notes of green tea and a slight sweetness from mandarin and orange. It is a composition intended to evoke an open window facing a clear lake in the forest.

It remains to be seen whether the 17th edition of the Pure Talents Contest will produce a similar success story. Young designers who are interested in entering have until 12 September 2019 to submit their ideas to imm cologne.