2010 Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Award | Jun Ebata

Continuing our coverage of the Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Awards…
Another- and perhaps the last – award I felt was worth mentioning was Jun Ebata’s stool, “Tension,” which won the Kenji Ekuan award.　Side note: Kenji Ekuan, one of the judges of the award show, (b. 1929) is an award-winning designer known for such ubiquitous designs like Kikkoman’s soy sauce dispenser.

Appropriately named, “Tension” incorporates architectural elements, such as brace structures and beam strings, to achieve ⌀ 6mm  legs and an overall precarious look and feel. I’ve always been stunned by architectural mechanisms so it’s nice to see them beautifully implemented in household furniture.

Jun Ebata is a design student at the Shizuoka University of Art and Culture. His work was last seen during the 2008 Kokuyo Design Awards where “kezurinbo,” a set of adorable pencils that change facial expressions as you sharpen them, won him considerable attention.