Ohtake
Collezione: Ohtake
Thought by: Roca
Categoria: Lavabi
Thought by: Roca
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Categoria: Lavabi
Organic lines and a timeless design. The Brazilian architect Ruy Ohtake used elements of nature - wave curves, the ever-changing line of the horizon and the purest form of design, the egg - as an inspiration to create the unique collection.
The organic shapes found in Nature were a constant source of inspiration for the late, legendary Brazilian architect Ruy Ohtake. Curving surfaces and round, voluptuous shapes were essential to his design vocabulary. He often remarked how his goal with his designs was to awaken the senses and to establish a connection with the end user that would go beyond the basic utilitarian function being fulfilled. Ohtake’s ambition was to create something that would enrich the user’s everyday life, even if for just a brief moment.
Those daring curves and the organic character of his work made him an ideal guest collaborator for Roca. Ohtake’s close attention to the execution and detailing of his designs, no matter what scale, perfectly aligned him with Roca’s commitment to craftmanship excellence. In developing the collection, the architect found inspiration in an unexpected most primordial item: the egg. “The egg is something of an exceptional quality, with its high rigidity even with such a thin skin!”, he would comment. Seeing a correlation between the lightness of the egg skin and Roca’s Fineceramic material, he applied cutting edge technology to achieve the ultra-thin borders he had envisioned for his sculptural designs for the collection.
The resulting pieces feature Ruy’s signature sensual shapes, with undulating edges and outlines, resembling more a walk on the beach than simply a basin container. As he would say: “A good piece of Architecture, of design, must have an element of unpredictability, of emotion”
Now the Ohtake collection is being expanded with the addition of fresh new designs by Ohtake’s son, architect and designer Rodrigo Ohtake, continuing in this way the fruitful collaborative history between the Ohtake’s and Roca. Leading the Ohtake office since his father’s passing, Rodrigo is following in his footsteps while also expanding the practice and infusing it with a contemporary sensibility. For him too, the natural exuberance of the Brazilian landscape, present even in a major urban megalopolis like São Paulo, is a constant source of inspiration and an essential element of his design process. Whether the colors or the shapes or simply its atmosphere and layers, Rodrigo’s designs are finely tuned with the ecological universe that surrounds him.
For his debut contribution to the Ohtake Collection, Rodrigo wanted to create designs that were inviting for the user to engage with. Thus, he took Ruy’s celebrated curves and opened them up, softening the forms and extending the basins shape, as if a hand outreached in to collect water. The refined, lighter design owes its poetic inspiration to the delicate forms of the calla lily flower, and was developed quite literally with a hands-on approach. To find the ideal shapes he wanted, Rodrigo played with mini dough maquettes , in a creative tour de force not unlike his grandmother’s Tomie artistic creations. Adding to the visual appeal of the design, the two new wash basins will be available in black, white and a new terracotta finish. The resulting sculptural objects were recognized for their originality with the “Best in Show” award at the 2023 Expo Revestir, the yearly design event that takes place in São Paulo.
