Since last year, Japanese design studio “nendo” has been closely collaborating with ELECOM, one of the largest PC and AV accessory suppliers in Japan. Here are the products “nendo” has designed for ELECOM.
(1)otokurage (sound jellyfish)
“We enlarged the silicon ear caps that cover earphones to hide the entire device, creating a set of in-ear headphones with a soft feel and an unusual transparency like that of a jellyfish.
Because the earphones’ components are unified into one piece, substituting the colour or size of the earcap changes their look entirely. To keep with the image of a jellyfish(oto=sound, kurage=jellyfish) floating in the water, the packaging was inspired by a PET plastic soft drink bottle”*
(2)rinkak (outline)
“In Japanese, rinkak refers to an object’s outline against its background. The cable that snakes out from the computer becomes the rinkak of a mouse, like a quickly-sketched freehand drawing. The mouse becomes the background, and the cable – until now a supporting actor – takes to the main stage”*
(3)oppopet (tail pet)
“A wireless optical mouse whose USB receiver takes the shape of different animal tails(“oppo” means “tail” in Japanese). To transport the mouse, users plug the tail into the body, as though picking up a small animal to go for a walk. When in use, the mouse takes on a simple discrete shape, and the tail plugs into the computer, extending casually as though a small pet is hiding inside”*
(4)kasane (stack)
“A wireless laser mouse whose side buttons and left- and right-hand click buttons are stacked randomly, like papers scattered around on a desktop. The design is completed when users stack (kasane in Japanese) their hands on top of them”*
(5)orime (fold)
“A wireless laser mouse constructed entirely from flat surfaces, rather than the usual multiple curves. Formed as though by folding a piece of paper, the orime (fold) mouse fits comfortably into the hand, but also looks like low-resolution CG data sprung out from the screen, for a design that seems neither digital nor analog, but possibly both or somewhere in between”*
*The text is from nendo’s press releases
For more information: www.nendo.jp
