“LAYERED NATURE” BY NENDO FOR ALPI

Images courtesy of ALPI

A Dialogue Between Material and Emotion

From 6 November 2025 to 31 March 2026, the ALPI showroom on Via Solferino 7 in Milan transforms into a serene landscape of layered forms and light. Through Layered Nature—a site-specific installation by nendo, the studio led by Oki Sato—the Italian veneer pioneer invites visitors to see wood beyond its surface: as a poetic study of balance, depth, and emotion.

For more than forty years, ALPI has pushed the expressive boundaries of wood, turning a living material into a language of design. In this latest collaboration with nendo, that language evolves again—becoming quieter, lighter, almost meditative.

“Oki Sato’s work has always inspired in me a deep sense of curiosity and respect. To simply admire it was not enough – I wanted to understand the person and the thinking behind his projects. Some time ago, I had the chance to meet him, and I immediately felt compelled to propose a collaboration. My suggestion surprised him; he had never worked with a material like ours. He wondered what kind of strange and wonderful journey awaited him. The process that followed was complex. It required time and dedication, but precisely this effort led to Kasumi and Futae – two wood veneers that embody Oki’s poetic spirit. By carefully studying our production methods and infusing them with his love of landscapes and culture, he created something truly original,” says Vittorio Alpi, CEO of ALPI.

Presented by Le Chateau Living 

Inside the showroom, Layered Nature unfolds like a suspended landscape—planes and volumes overlapping in quiet rhythm, where light gently drifts through layers of wood. The result feels at once architectural and ethereal, reflecting nendo’s sense of clarity and calm precision.

The two veneers at the heart of the installation—Kasumi and Futae—each express a distinct mood. Kasumi, meaning “mist” in Japanese, carries soft gradations of tone, achieved through the overlay of two hues that create transparency and depth, as if the wood itself were fading into air. Futae, by contrast, brings structure and rhythm, merging two grains at different scales to evoke the tactile patterns of bark and striated stone. Together, they blur the boundaries between what’s natural and what’s crafted.

“ALPI invites designers to create new materials and then interpret them in objects that highlight the material’s attractiveness and reveal its possibilities. The pieces on display were not designed to be conventionally functional, but to emphasise the material itself. They showcase the eminent skill ALPI possesses in creating curves with wood veneer. They intentionally incorporate shapes devoid of a clear way to use them, so as to shift the focus from function to emotion,” explains Oki Sato.

Light travels softly through the installation, playing across the wood’s curves and shadows, revealing every nuance of tone and texture. “To me, the most meaningful moment – the ‘!’ – is when someone realises they are not looking at natural wood, but at designed wood. That small exclamation, combined with the surprise of discovering the story behind the project, is unmistakably representative of the expression nendo strives to achieve,” adds Oki Sato.

More than an exhibition, Layered Nature feels like an encounter—between technology and craftsmanship, between what is designed and what is felt. It reflects ALPI’s quiet confidence in innovation and its deep respect for nature, redefining wood not as a mere material, but as an emotion layered in light.