A more natural way for the designer-maker to explore other materials has been collaborating with friends. With Zürich-based designer Flavia Brändle, he makes a line of modular lights called Furikake, which combines her knowledge about textiles and lighting, with his technique in bending wood by precisely cutting it at predetermined positions. Manus Manum Lavat was a solo show of sorts, but more a celebration of the many collaborations Kobayashi makes with artists, makers and designers, all of whom he calls friends. Fish Table (Fatty Tuna), 2019, was a giant eccentric centrepiece for the show that was hard to ignore – the surface of the oak table features a hand-painted fish by artist James Hague, while its legs resemble the shapes of sharks’ fins. Piece of Cake sofa was another collaboration with Brändle, featuring a Battenberg-like palette of yellow and pink, and plush upholstered cubes. ‘It's more fun to do things together, you can share a feeling that leads to something,’ he explains of his thirst for collaboration. ‘I've never been to university, so for me, everything, every project, every new material, is a kind of learning.’