The ADA Cube Garden: A Note from Takashi Amano

The Story of the ADA Cube Garden Aquarium

The ADA Cube Garden is an iconic work of art. Developed by famous aquascaper Takashi Amano and his company Aqua Design Amano, otherwise known as ADA, the Cube Garden is the result of Takashi Amano’s absolute commitment to developing the perfect stage to display his Nature Aquariums on.

“The ultimate aquarium which expresses the beauty of the underwater”, Takashi Amano

We are now carrying the entire range of ADA Cube Garden aquariums. All aquariums are available for delivery or for collection in store, where you can compare the various sizes and take your aquarium home the same day, and view some of the iconic art works of UK aquascaper James Findley at the same time!

The Influence of Photography

Mr Amano’s career began as a Japanese landscape photographer in 1975. It was Takashi Amano’s love of the natural world that led him to develop the Nature Aquarium style, by using the addition of CO2 to re-create nature.

Mr Amano explains how he developed the Cube Garden to display his Nature Aquariums to their full potential and allow him to take beautiful photographs of them: ‘I had the original Cube Garden made for photographing. Conventional aquariums had frames and silicone protruding from joints, which were quite noticeable in a photograph. As a canvas of Nature Aquarium rather than a product for sale, I was pursuing an aquarium that made a [nature aquarium] layout look its best, an aquarium that appeared like a cube that was cut out of a body of water’. Read more about The Philosophy of ADA.

Development and Refinement: The Pursuit of Perfection

The ADA Cube Garden was, and still is, a truly revolutionary aquarium. Mr Amano’s clear vision has led to the continual development and refinement of the Cube Garden over time, demonstrating Takashi Amano and ADA’s dedication and commitment to the pursuit of perfection.

Initially, in pursuit of his vision, Mr. Amano developed a special manufacturing technique that allowed all the frames, braces and silicone to be removed from the aquarium. The result was the rimless, braceless, frameless aquarium that is now called the ADA Cube Garden Superior – this is made from a single piece of glass with no seams, and comes in at a rather hefty price! Takashi Amano explains ‘I thought it would be necessary to propose that an aquarium can be a work of art like that. I suppose I did not think of it as a business much because of that mind set’.

Above: The ADA Cube Garden Superior – made from a single piece of glass, it has no need for silicone along the edges.

Since that time the ADA Cube Garden has been refined and re-refined. The next step in the development of the ADA Cube Garden was to create an aquarium that could be produced more easily, with less expense. To do this, Mr Amano developed a manufacturing process that allowed minimal silicone to be used whilst still ensuring that the aquarium was strong enough – after all, it had to withstand the regular earthquakes in Japan! This development resulted in the creation of what is now known as the Do!aqua Cube Glass.

The most recent development was the use of extra high clarity glass to make what we now know as the ADA Cube Garden aquarium. Mr Amano explains that ‘A tinted glass makes an entire aquarium a bit darker since water and fish are both coloured. The new type of Cube Garden is clearer than before, and the inside of the aquarium looks brighter. It gives a very different impression’.

View the full range of ADA aquariums, which are all in stock now;

– ADA Cube Garden Superior

– ADA Do!aqua Cube Glass

– ADA Cube Garden

– ADA Cube Garden Mist R Type

Image: Takashi Amano, founder of ADA

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