Daisuke Nagatomo graduated from Meiji University in Tokyo, and decided to pursue his passion of architecture at Columbia University, where he received master degree in advanced architectural design. Nagatomo began his career in the metropolitan New York area with architecture firms, including TEN Arquitectos and Design Office for Research and Architecture. He was the invited researcher for FabLab House project at IaaC, Barcelona from 2009 to 2010 where he holds research diploma. Nagatomo is currently the adjunct faculty member of Tokyo Denki University and has taught several schools including Pratt Institute (New York), Tokyo University of Science, and Keio University.

S-Cube Stool, child chair, and step by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan S-CUBE simply took the 3mm cardboard to the next level. It inherited a regular box shape, then pushed from one side to create multifunction: a stool, a child’s seat, and steps. The sheet of cardboard is precisely cut by CNC machine and folded into polygon blocks, and turn S-CUBE into a strong yet light-weight structure. Colorful leather adds a touch of playfulness to the child’s chair.

Anti-Loneliness Ramen Bowl by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Anti-loneliness Ramen bowl addresses the social phenomena of addiction to the use of high-tech handheld devices such as smart phone. The uniquely sculptured form is the result of double layered ceramic for creating the concaved cavity for holding phone device. As the current society relying on the digital media, people try to connect online even during their mealtime for looking through the social medium with their smart phones. Anti-loneliness Ramen bowl is the hybrid-design of phone dock with noodle bowl for solving those issues.

Lightscape Pavilion Art Installation by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Treasure Hill in Taipei is an old settlement with a vision of an artist compound. The contrast between the new and the old, villagers and the artists, creates an interesting dialogue, which can be experience by the visitors. Situated at the highest point of Treasure Hill, the Lightscape Pavilion becomes a focal point that can be seen from far away. The design concept is inspired by the traditional Chinese lantern, which is made with bamboo and paper. This pavilion is a lightweight structure, accompanied with curved resting benches and lighting.

Rocking Dolphin Kid furniture by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Inspired by the wild dolphins that play around Guishan Island in Yilan County, Taiwan, Rocking Dolphin is an ideal piece of furniture for children ages 1 to 3 that encourages young minds to explore their world through feel and touch. Made with 100% natural pine cut to precision with CNC fabrication, the dolphin features soft, sanded edges that eliminate the risk of abrasion or other injury. The dorsal fin provides the main seating area of the Rocking Dolphin, while the side fins offer a place where children can rest their feet.

Spiral Stool by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Spiral Stool is a DIY stool made entirely of CNC-manufactured cardboard that can support approximately 100 kg in weight. Assembly can be finished within 15 minutes without the use of hardware or glue. The high-quality recyclable cardboard creates a beautiful, compact surface for consumers to sit on or, when multiple stools are used as modular units, configure as a low table. When not in use, Spiral Stool can be unfolded, stored, and reused at a later time.

Lightscape Pavilion by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Inspired by traditional Chinese lanterns, Lightscape combines CNC fabrication with local materials in the form of a lightweight, luminous pavilion. Each of the pavilion’s ten columns is composed of crisscrossing bamboo dowels; in the four central columns, the dowels unfold into a 2.4-meter-high canopy. Ensconced within each column is a lamp that illuminates the bamboo lattice from within, creating a soft, delicate atmosphere in the evening. Located at Marina Bay, Singapore, the pavilion echoes both the vertical grandeur of the skyscrapers behind it and the undulations of the bay before it.

Morph Side Table by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Morph is standalone side table made with 100% recyclable cardboard material and incorporates the E-ink Prism sheet on top as surface treatment. E-ink Prism is the electrical ink laminated film sheets that can change its pattern with very low electricity voltage. As its name describes the transforming shape of pure circle to complex curvature, Morph symbolizes traditional paper to new generation electrical paper, and fabricated with the digital modeling technology and CNC fabrication method.

Invisible Farm Art Installation by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Invisible Farm is the art installation to capitalize the possibility of vertical farming with your window in urban living space. It is inspired by the typical metal frames around the windows in Taiwan residential buildings to be able to design custom hydroponic farming system with simple mechanical system. The installation of Invisible Farm was successfully exhibited in CMP Block of Taichung where is the one of most popular art gallery in the city.

Under the tree Educational Institute by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Hsin Yi Kids Learning Center is located in Taipei City, Taiwan. The space is for children whose age is in between 1 to 6 years old. In a metropolitan city as Taipei city, it is not easy for child to play freely with nature around, and also most of interior spaces for children are cramped. It is why this learning center design is trying to provide as comfortable space for kid to learn as possible, and also only utilizing natural materials such as wood and paper. The symbolic main tree in the space is to cover existing column by wood, and added honeycomb cardboard sheet made branches and leaves.

Urban Oasis Residential apartment by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan This is an urban oasis, a sanctuary place where we hope to balance the couple’s busy lives in Taipei. The beautiful mountains surrounds the apartment has inspired us to design a fluid space and bring the natural landscape into the interior. Without moving a single partition, the original 3-room layout of the 22-year old building is kept, with additional storage space and walk-in closet. To utilize every corner, left over spaces in kid’s bedrooms have turned into study and reading zone.

Kulms Stackable Chair by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan The chair is designed with homogeneous surface condition that maximize its function as stackable chair, and at the same time creates very strong and unique atmosphere around the chair. By shifting the order of two curvatures, Kulms 01 and 02 have two different outlooks while both of them utilize the stackable function.

Spiral Pavilion Parametric Cardboard Structure by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Installed on the ground floor of C-Hub, National Cheng Kung University in Tainan City, Taiwan, the Spiral Pavilion incorporates 100 percent cardboard material for its structure. The parametric modeling and digital fabrication tools are applied for the pavilion realization to achieve short time onsite assembly with non-skilled student volunteers of NCKU.

Float Exhibition Space by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan The exhibition space is designed to feature the metal products with advance tool usage. It is located at the MOEA innovation center in Kaohsiung city, Taiwan, the “Float” exhibition space incorporates the kinetic movement of gold polished metal pendants and pentagonal floating display shelf. The design intention is to create overall floating condition for the display area to represent lightness, which is relatively hard to connect with metal usage.

Sylvan Residential Apartment by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan “Treasure in a forest” is an apartment interior project, which emphasize the texture and color of natural material. The space is located in Miaoli City, Taiwan, where still remains mountains just outside of city. The design inspiration comes from those experiences through the walk through a nature and find a comfortable space to rest. It is almost as finding a treasure. When the visitor enters the apartment, the gently curved wood surface welcomes the guest to sit and take off their shoes, while the front wall is cladded with dark stone to give warm natural feeling.

SurPlate Marble Platter by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan In Taiwan, the marble sheets are distributed as pre-fixed dimensions. However, when it is installed in the interior space, it is always need to be customized and create leftover materials. The importance of material is high, so that it is important to consider how to maximize its usage. Even though the planning of these materials are made carefully, however there are still some remaining that cannot be utilized as a building material. The SurPlate project is to re-think how to generate through these leftover materials to enjoy the pattern from nature.

The New Moment Cafeteria by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan The New Moment is a conversion project from an unused old dormitory to the cafeteria for Taiwanese Company in the special technology district of Hsinchu city in Taiwan. The building was last used over twenty years ago, and has been closed to public. Even though its structure has no issue, it takes a huge design challenge to convert this archaic space to comfortable dining space for the users. The entire space is coordinated with simple color and texture, however there are vivid color and green wall to create special moments.

Vibes Office Lobby and Cafeteria by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan The movement of lights and how people let freely experience the atmosphere creates the fluidity in the space. The original interior space, which built about thirty years ago, is dark and inactive for the high-end information technology company. To create a new brand image and provide the employee with a comfortable and productive working environment, the design utilizes the company color as the new identity of the brand and also as an accent in the space. Through the basement to the 1st and 2nd floor, the Vibes creates an amazing daily experience during the working hour.

Future is Now Living Lab by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Future is Now Living Lab is where people in Taipei city look for the new idea of sustainable lifestyle and circular economy. The Living Lab interior space is created refurbished and/or recycled material for the visitor to enjoy the possibility of circular design, and constructed with No-landfill wasted concept. The event was conducted from 18th July to 31st October 2019 at Hua Shan Art station in Taipei City to host more than 20 events of lecture and workshops about circular economy.

Cotton Spate Console by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Cotton Spate is designed for the Olivia Yves London pop up store in Taipei. The inspiration for the design is the brand identity image of the Pima cotton flower field in Peru which grows by the lake in between mountains. The brand carries one of the most carefully crafted kid’s clothes so that the shelf emphasizes the softness and comfortableness by removing all the sharp angles and corners.

Tian Ling Villa Residential Interior by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan The Tian-Lai villa is a great escape from the cityscape, surrounded by grand mountain views. By adding a curved edge ceiling, the approach is to make a layer in the space, as the site situated at the edge of the city. Without too much decorative interior, the villa presents a grand and relaxing atmosphere with natural materials such as wood, stone, and marble. The tranquil space is not only to rest, but also to rejuvenate from the busy lifestyle.

Three Tree Art Installation by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Three Tree is a temporary art installation developed for the art event in Taipei. The art installation employs digital technology and bamboo dowels, which is the traditional Asian crafting material. Three Tree coheres the NTNU museum neighborhood rich cultural and ecological background and welcomes visitors to discover exciting cultural exchange.

S90 Residence Residential Dwelling by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan S90 Residence is a two-generation dwelling located in the Northern part of Tainan Prefecture. The design employs many sustainable design approaches, such as sun exposure analysis and promoting natural ventilation. The sloped roof matches the optimized sun angle for the future extension of a solar panel. The white façade matches the green field around the site and reduces the heat gain from strong direct sunlight.

Pulse Art Installation by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Pulse visualizes the emotional states of immigrants when they enter a new realm. It appears to be still, yet sometimes beats harshly and sometimes expresses slowly. Migrating to a new environment has all kinds of feelings, including hope, excitement, nervousness, fear, and joy. There are many to expect during the process, difficulties to deal with, and challenges to face. These emotional waves are critical elements of a new journey, yet unable to share with new neighbors.

Equality Gender Neutral Toilet by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan This project is located in Banqiao Station, New Taipei City. As the central transportation hub, the station serves a significant amount of commuters every day. The design goes along with the Sustainable Development Goals plan of the city to create further city development to help the citizen without any boundary of difficulties. Therefore, it is not just gender but also accessible to people who need assistance.

We Transforming Circular Economy Exhibition by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan A sustainable future is not a hypothesis, but a choice, which is jointly participated by everyone. In this journey, human beings are both producers and consumers. Therefore, the definition of the sustainable life style is up to the society. The trajectory of the future also defines the destination of this transformational journey. In the Taiwan Design Expo 2022, this circular pavilion itself is the future transformation through design thinking, material selection and modularization of exhibition components. The waste that may be generated during exhibition assembly is minimized.

Dance With The Wind Art Installation by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan The Luo Shan Feng is not only the wind but also the driving force of life for the local people. After learning to live with the wind, they also develop a lifestyle that suits local conditions. Under the strong wind, to create a soothing atmosphere, the shape is considered to be arc-shaped. Through works of art, the wind can blow away the fatigue in life and let people dance with the wind. The work uses bamboo and steel bars as the primary materials, and LED light strips are placed around them. The swirl-like shape attracts people into the space and becomes a space for tourist interaction.

Love Infirmary Health Center by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan The project is a part of the movement on campus initiated by the TDRI and supported by the Ministry of Education of Taiwan. It is renovating the school infirmary in Taipei city, Ren-ai elementary school. The original space had many problems, including insufficient circulation, dark interior space, and inadequate medical equipment storage. Therefore, the interior space is developed with biophilic, introducing more natural light, incorporating natural texture and material, and smooth curved surfaces.

Hitobito Lighting Installation by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Hitobito is the art installation created for the lantern festival in Taipei City in 2023 as a part of the new immigrant district in Song Shan Cultural Park. The structural form draws people inside to experience the passage of reaching a unique destination that collects people's memory of their hometown. In addition, the installation is brightened at night with warm lighting to wrap the visitors to synchronize their emotional state with the space.

Hitobito Art Installation by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan Hitobito is the art installation created for the lantern festival in Taipei City in 2023 as a part of the new immigrant district in Song Shan Cultural Park. The structural form draws people inside to experience the passage of reaching a unique destination that collects people's memory of their hometown. In addition, the installation is brightened at night with warm lighting to wrap the visitors to synchronize their emotional state with the space.

Daisuke Nagatomo

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Daisuke Nagatomo is AIBA member since 2013, with 58898 AIBA rating.