A to Zanthoxylum

A to Zanthoxylum is a set of pencils made of 26 timber species arranged alphabetically by scientific name.

Timber has been the material of choice for writing and printing words and letters for centuries, consolidating the relationship between abstract thoughts and their physical manifestation.

The pencils are based on the work of George Loddiges, who, in 1840, planted an alphabetical arboretum along the perimeter of Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington, a last place of rest for non-conformists and dissenters. Through replanting, propagation, diseases and other disturbances, the arboretum has now turned into scattered letters and accidental words, resembling chance poetry.

Study O Portable, founded by Bernadette Deddens [NL] and Tetsuo Mukai [JP], is a research based practice that makes objects about the designed environment, and our relationship to the cultural landscape that enables it, with a particular interest in the transitional nature of our ideas towards objects. The work often catalogues various, and sometimes disparate notions associated with certain ideas and objects, and proposes other potential for the mundane and ordinary. The practice maintains a speculative approach to the definition of designing, and is intrigued by different modes of thinking related to things and objects in general.

Since 2009, the work of Study O Portable has been presented internationally at various occasions and places such as Design Miami (Miami Beach, Basel), London Design Festival (London), Design Parade (Hyeres), Gallery FUMI (London, Porto Cervo), Caroline van Hoek (Brussels, Knokke), Phillips de Pury & Company (London, New York), Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven), Pavilion of Art and Design (Paris, London) among others.
As Workshop For Potential Design, they initiate and organise exhibitions related to designed conditions.

(Source: http://www.studyoportable.com/about/)

• http://studyoportable.com/projects/A-to-...