Based in Japan, the team of Takashi Ueno, Mamoru Naito and Keizaburo Honda make up Leif.designpark, a design collaborative with a line of modern furnishings that excited us from the very moment we saw their pieces. Taking materials from nature like wood, they put their designs through a modern filter, but then filter them all again through natural forms and shapes. What you get is a line with definite modern sleekness and simplicity, but also an extreme connection to nature. Take their Lily Tables, with bases like an abstracted tree trunk, or their Flower Cup Chair, with back slats that resemble long, wooden flower petals. They also excel at incorporating supreme functionality into their furniture, like the Suu Bed that we adore. Their Hug Lounge Chair and Sofa are perfectly symbolic of the sort of company they run: soft and enveloping but also structural and strong.