Alessi — Pleats JK02/23 JK02/23 B | Round black steel tray

There is something textile about the way Pleats occupies space. The round black colored-steel tray appears as a sheet of metal that seems to have received the gentle treatment of a tailor's hands: the pleated surface — already evoked in the name — transforms an everyday object into a rhythmic composition, almost a visual score that plays with light and shadow. Its 23-centimeter diameter makes it perfect on the dining table or entryway console, where its subtle presence — just 1.5 centimeters in profile — never takes up more space than it is meant to. The project bears the signature of Jin Kuramoto, a Japanese designer with a studio in Tokyo, known for a design practice in which industrial precision constantly engages in an almost artisanal sensitivity to materials. Kuramoto works with form as if listening to what the material wants to become: in the case of Pleats, steel abandons its usual coldness to take on a soft, almost organic geometry, reminiscent of the folds of a fine fabric or the surface of a structured petal. We chose it for those who love objects that cannot be explained with a single word. Pleats is a tray, of course, but it is also a tabletop sculpture, a three-dimensional graphic mark in the domestic space. It is the ideal gift for anyone who collects design without necessarily wanting to display unusable pieces: here, the function remains, discreet and present. Project notes: black lacquered colored steel, diameter 23 cm, height 1.5 cm, weight 500 g. Designed by Jin Kuramoto for Alessi, permanent collection, fall/winter lineup.