Emmanuelle Moureaux’s Hanging Forest Made of 20,000 Pieces of Paper

When French designer Emmanuelle Moureaux first arrived in Tokyo, she became fully fascinated by the colors overflowing on the street. She found that the city’s overwhelming number of store signs, flying electrical cables, and flashes of blue sky framed by various volumes of buildings created three dimensional “layers”. The flood of various colors that pervade the city streets are mirrored in her design installations, which build up a complex depth and intensity of space.

These experiences of colors and layers are in the inspiration of Moureaux’s latest project, “bunshi” (meaning “ramification”), which means to divide or spread out into branches- a rainbow-colored suspended forest made on 20,000 pieces of paper shaped like twigs in 100 shades of color. Moureaux’s installation is part of the “WOOD FURNITURE JAPAN AWARD 2016” which has returned to Tokyo at SPIRAL art space after a successful launch in Paris in January. She describes the work as “grand, yet intricate. Chaotic, yet in harmony,” as the installation gives an experience of being in a forest, wondering among the world of colorful branches.

Though appearing randomly placed, each “branch” is in fact perfectly aligned in three dimensional grids creating a tunnel-like path, where wood furniture is placed along the edge of the curved path. The color of atmosphere gradually changes as one walks through the tunnel. “Each module is a metaphoric expression of the phenomenon of ramification, which symbolizes the encounters between designers and artisans as their paths intersect and diverge with valuable experiences, leading them to a new path,” writes Moureaux at her website. “I want my designs to inspire people to feel emotion as I felt when I saw the beautiful colors of Tokyo.”