If you think the boat you see here looks like a giant zipper pull, that is because, it was intentionally designed to look like one. Kind of whimsical, don’t you think? But why on Earth would boat designer do that? Well, that is because, the designer can. Just kidding. It’s not for any narcissist reason. And the designer is not a boat designer by training.
This unusual boat was designed by Japanese designer Yasushiro Suzuki. While on a flight, Suzuki-san had observed that vessels moving across the water looks like a zipper splitting the water. Long story short, unlike most people who also observes; Suzuki-san decided to create a literal recreation of what he had observed during a flight over Tokyo Bay.
The result is what he referred to as Zip-Fastener Ship. Zip-Fastener Ship is a 30-foot (9 meters) long motorized that is completely chrome-colored for obvious reason. The vessel was intentionally divided into two major sections so it looks the pull and the slide (or car) of a zipper pull.
Granted, the best unzipping the water effect is when you have a bird’s eye view. Though I must say that, at certain angle, it (the boat) nonchalantly sitting on a calm water body is pretty surreal too. Just have a look:
It is surreal, innit? Even though the photo above is believe to be the radio control scale model version. It looks like some giant beings have dropped a zipper on the lake, nevertheless.
That said, the Zip-Fastener Ship is not new, though. The designer had made a radio control scale model in 2004 and debuted the full scale example some years ago. Years on, the Zip-Fastener Ship is in the spotlight again, thanks to its appearance at the Designart Tokyo 2020 event.
It was a moving art installation, called Opening the River, that plies between Azumabashi and Sakurabashi along Sumida River during the duration of the event (October 31-November 8, 2020).
Images: Suri Kurata/Sumida River Sumi-Yume Art Project.
Source: Oddity Central.