Drawings and photographic material, Sakura, chair and sofa 櫻花（沙發和椅子）繪圖及影像資料

Building on his earlier Flower series of seat furniture for Italian manufacturer Edra, Umeda Masanori designed this matching chair and sofa, which remained at the conceptual stage and did not go into production. Named for the cherry blossoms that are a symbol of spring and renewal in Japan, the Sakura furniture has arms and backrests formed by overlapping upholstered ‘petals’; stitched patterns in the seat upholstery represent the flowers’ stamens. Umeda’s sketches and working drawings for these objects illustrate the underlying geometric logic of ostensibly ‘organic’ forms, shedding light on how the designer approached the challenges of fabricating his often highly sculptural designs.

This series consists of a set of sketches that move from conceptual to highly detailed, a set of more finalised design drawings, and several photographs of models of the chair and sofa, all dating from 1988 to 1991.