Madeleine Kessler and Mio Tsuneyama were invited as Studio mnm to create an installation for the exhibition Distillation of Architecture at the Architectural Association.

Nomadic Kasuri Horizons draws inspiration from Bingo Kasuri, a cotton fabric woven in Fukuyama, Japan, for over 400 years. Dyed with fermented indigo at the thread level, kasuri was traditionally used for everyday clothing before being repaired, repurposed and eventually burned to produce ash for fertiliser, creating a continuous material cycle from production to decomposition.

The installation translates these ideas into four lightweight, foldable pieces of furniture: a Byobu Screen, Zabuton Chair, Andon Lantern and Furoshiki Rug. Inspired by traditional Japanese domestic furniture, each can be reconfigured and rearranged as daily life changes, allowing different ways of living, gathering and inhabiting space.

Together, the pieces reflect an approach to architecture that values adaptability, repair and reuse. Light enough to move and designed to return to the earth at the end of their life, they ask how architecture might learn from materials that have evolved through centuries of everyday use.

In keeping with the project's emphasis on adaptability and reuse, the installation has been repurposed for the London Museum Studios, where the furniture continues to be used as part of the museum's flexible workshop spaces.

Team: Madeleine Kessler, Mio Tsuneyama

Client: Architectural Association and Maeda

Collaborators: Studio mnm with Kittaka Brothers & Corp, Bansyo, iskw_sss and Imatoku Kogei