Nendo, tasked with designing the new office space for Pokémon co-owner Creatures Inc., took inspiration from the hugely popular trading cards the company is known for. The result is a whimsical working space defined by thousands of duplicate steel he trading cards.
The new office is located at Creatures’ existing Tokyo headquarters, and Nendo’s work centered on its interior design, with a focus on creating an eye-catching entrance and flexible, forward-looking meeting spaces.
“Since its release in October 1996, the Pokémon Trading Card Game has long been loved by fans around the world. Office interior design has therefore naturally come to refer to such vocabulary from the card manufacturing process.
“It is not a traditional office layout of rectangular tables in a rectangular room. There are spaces of various shapes and sizes with curved walls. Furthermore, every table is created with its own organic form. You can adjust the layout according to the meeting format or number of participants.”
Takumi Ota
The design process is quite complex, creating an abstract graphic pattern resembling one of the Pokemon trading cards in the correct dimensions and engraving it onto a 2.3 mm (0.09 inch) thick steel sheet using a laser cutting machine. I had to. Nendo has not specified exactly how many steel cards were produced, but judging by the photos, it appears that hundreds, possibly thousands, were used. Each was carefully mounted at one of 12 different angles to control light and views to multiple meeting rooms and office spaces.
Other Pokémon-related additions include some artwork. Nendo also created 9 special energy cards for her as secret her items for Eagle Eyes to find throughout the office.
Nendo has many forms of creating wall-agnostic designs, and the company has previously produced a house that was mostly stairs and another built out of a culvert.
Source: Nintendo
