ryosuke harashima expands his ‘STILLIFE’ series with two antique-inspired table designs

ryosuke harashima continues reviving old tools through modern furniture pieces

Ryosuke Harashima continues expanding his 2019 ‘STILLIFE’ collection with the addition of two new table designs, titled respectively ‘Miss You, Shanghai Blue’ and ‘A Day in the Harvest’. Following the project’s original theme, Harashima’s latest creations reinterpret and revive the elegance of antique tools for the modern age. Each piece combines the sleek texture of copper and colorful glass tops with a traditional object used in Japanese or Chinese culture.

‘Miss you, Shanghai Blue’ side table, featuring an antique Chinese water bucket
all images © Yoshio Daisuke

‘Miss you, shanghai blue’ side table

The first product, ‘Miss You, Shanghai Blue’ is a side table composed of an antique Chinese water bucket, held under the frame of a copper table with a light blue glass top. Ryosuke Harahsima (see more here) mainly crafted this piece to evoke water being pumped into and overflowing from a bucket. But he also saw that crisp blue top as a nostalgic tone, reminiscent of Shanghai’s sky on a clear day. The bucket’s surface appears worn out at closer look, reinforcing the viewer’s return to the past, imagining the history and places behind that past-century artefact. 

the blue glass top evokes water pumped into a bucket and overflowing, or the Shanghai sky

‘a day in the harvest’ coffee table 

The second piece, ‘A Day in the Harvest’, is a coffee table with an antique Japanese winnowing basket resting at an angle under a yellow glass top with copper legs. Harashima picked that yellow hue as a nod to an image of golden rice fields being winnowed during harvest. Complementing the perfectly glazed top is the bamboo-woven pattern of the basket. It came with an original inscription on its back, ‘February 1965, Izutsu’, depicting the day it was produced and its creator’s name. ‘I imagine a day in the life of the person who used the tool and enjoyed the harvest,‘ reflects the designer. 

the bucket hanging on the table frame, expressing how tools were once used

‘A Day in the Harvest’ coffee table, with an antique Japanese winnowing basket