Born in Tokyo, Shiroko studied furniture design in Japan and spatial design at Chelsea College of Art before entering the Royal College in 2004. Dissatisfied by the dry, object-driven nature of her first year of studies, and questioning the need for more things, she decided to work with historical narratives – contriving “an excuse to make something new out of an old context”. Her final year project, A Collection of Historical Objects from Japan, lies somewhere between fine art, design and theatre; indeed Shiratori explicitly credits theatre – “the creation of one world” – as an inspiration. In the meantime the ingenious functionality proposed by her Historical Objects contains broad and deliberate possibilities for industrial design.

At the 2007 Milan Furniture Fair, Shiratori’s exquisite prototypes dissemble as faux-artefacts derived from ancient Japanese stories. This is the third exhibition of young British designers organised by the British Council and Design Museum with Paul Smith Ltd. during the Milan Furniture Fair.