Kyoko Inoda & Nils Sveje
Japanese designer Kyoko Inoda and Danish designer Nils Sveje chose Milan as the base for their design studio, INODA+SVEJE. Their partnership with Italian brand Minotti began in 2021 and at this year’s Salone del Mobile, they debuted a series of modern seats, designed with meticulous attention to detail, and evoking a soothing sense of comfort with organic, welcoming shapes.
Rather than seeing their language barrier as a problem, the designers have been able to use it to their advantage. “Neither of us, in daily communication, speaks their mother tongue, but rather Italian,” explains Sveje. “This way language became an abstract layer, a filter to be used as a ‘soft sponge’. We don’t need to know each other’s ideas in detail to work them out.” Inoda echoes this: “We don’t need to define each one’s individuality in the creative process because we both have the same weight on projects. The independence of each is in the freedom of interpretation of each other’s idea, that sometimes is just a hint.”