These Growing Crystals Produce Fantasy Furniture

Like something out of Narnia, Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka's Spider's Thread is a full-on crystalline fantasy-scape, taking his previous work Crystallized Project to a whole new level. Developed via chemical synthesis, Yoshioka's signature crystals are formed through methodical cultivation on the surfaces of select materials. For Spider's Thread Yoshioka stretched seven strings around the frame of a chair to map out a spider's web formation, from which crystal minerals were cultivated to grow and expand on each individual thread over time. An ongoing work, as the crystals accumulate on strands the chair becomes more "finished."

The inspiration for the project was a traditional Japanese story, The Spider's Thread, by writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa, widely considered to be the father of the Japanese short story. In the fable Buddha takes mercy on a criminal in hell who once saved a spider in his former life. In an act of salvation the Buddha stretches a thread from a spider in heaven and gives it to the criminal so he can escape. In Japanese culture, a spider's thread represents hope and fragility, two key elements to Yoshioka's work.

To see the evolution of Spider's Thread, take a look below as a snowflake in the studio becomes a crystal forest in a gallery:

,

Catch “Spider’s Thread” as part of Yoshioka’s solo exhibition TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA_Crystalise at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo , on display till 14 January 2014.

 Tokujin Yoshioka

All images courtesy of Tokujin Yoshioka and Design Indaba.