Anyone who follows this column regularly might accuse me of being a slave to all that is white -- and with a name like "Snow," that criticism does seem justified. So in order to get it all out of my system (at least for a few months), this month I'm covering all things white. There is a zen-like satisfaction in a white product -- instead of imposing a particular chromatic texture that, in the end, has a great deal of influence on how the product is viewed, white lets the industrial design shine through.

Let's kick things off with a lighting accessory, something that quickly comes to mind when thinking of white, in the form of the Hanabi light from Nendo's Oki Sato. I swear that its color wasn't the first thing that attracted me to it (but it didn't hurt). The Hanabi -- Japanese for "fireworks" and made up of the characters for "flower" and "fire" -- lives up to its moniker by quite literally "blooming" as it gets switched on, taking on a shape that lets it spread its luminosity.

I'll also point out that Nendo is behind the interior of one of the brighter spots of the so-far disappointing Omotesando Hills shopping complex, the design-friendly select shop Idea Frames. It's just a shame they had to make it next to impossible to find the store, burying it in the lower levels with no direct connection to the rest of the complex.