Fuorisalone 2026

Unseen Objects / Overflow

Heiwa Gokin x We+

from 20 to 26 april

During the Salone del Mobile 2026 Galleria Rubin is pleased to host for the second year in a row the contemporary design studio we+ with the project Unseen Objects / Overflow in collaboration with Heiwa Gokin. 

The studio, founded in 2013 by Toshiya Hayashie Hokuto Ando and based in Tokyo, explores the possibilities of alternative design that establishes a close coexistence with the natural and social environment around us.

We+ conducted extensive research at Heiwa Gokin' s foundry, closely observing casting processes, tools and material behaviour. Through this investigation, attention was drawn to burrs — forms that arise during the metal solidification process and typically removed during finishing.

For large-scale castings, sand molds (molds made from compacted sand) are produced in multiple parts according to the shape and size of the original model. When molten metal is poured and begins to solidify, excess material forms along the seams between these mold sections. These formations are known as burrs. Normally discarded as imperfections, they are reinterpreted in this project as material traces that naturally arise from the casting process.

Panels cast with their burrs intact are layered and combined with aluminium boards to construct shelves and low tables. The collection translates material behaviour — generated within a controlled industrial process — into the structural language of furniture.

Unseen Objects / Overflow visualizes the essential qualities of advanced casting techniques while reconsidering the cultural value of casting practices that are often overlooked. This work marks a new series within the Unseen Objects project, seeking to reframe casting culture as sources of form, meaning and possibility.