Designart Tokyo, one of Japan’s largest design and art festivals, will present 117 diverse presentations, aiming to become "the largest event yet" in Tokyo, Japan. 

Designart Tokyo covers a wide variety of genres such as design, art, interior design, and fashion. 

Themed Reframing - the Beginning of a Shift, this year's design event will present creators who present new values through observation from different perspectives, unrestrained by conventional frameworks.

"With the growth of the Internet, we now have instant access to a vast amount of information. At the same time, this constant flow commodifies and reduces ideas to a mere sense of deja-vu. In a reality where this is the norm, have you ever felt you’re being swept away by the noise surrounding you?," said the organizers. 

Clockwise from top left: ART-Kodama Kanazawa, Contemporary Art Curator / Code-a- Machine Inc. DESIGN-Masato Kawai, Interior Stylist / Space Designer, Director of BUNDLESTUDIO Inc. CRAFT-Yudai Tachikawa, Director of Traditional Techniques, TECHNOLOGY-Ryuta Aoki, Artistic Director / Social Sculptor, courtesy of Designart Tokyo

The "Reframing" exhibition at Designart Tokyo, organized by four prominent figures from the domains of art, design, craft, and technology, showcases the work of 18 creators.

The four curators are contemporary art curator Kodama Kanazawa, interior stylist and Space Designer Masato Kawai, Yudai Tachikawa, and artistic director, social sculptor Ryuta Aoki. 

José Zanine Caldas (Sofa com rede), courtesy of Designart Tokyo

"Whether they are a curator who pursues a unique beauty, or a curator who uses artwork as a means to embody their beliefs; though the differences between their practice is true, it has become less meaningful to clearly demarcate the boundaries between them," said the organizers. 

"Rigid thinking and assumptions only narrow possibilities."

"These works question a world that is bound by common sense and unconsciously limits itself. Is the world we see obstructed by someone else's filter? Is this its true nature? Within the “Reframing” exhibition, you may discover something new as well as hints that will lead to an exciting future," Designart Tokyo added.

World Architecture Community is official media partner of Designart Tokyo 2024, and will be bringing the latest news from this year's festival.

Here's a selection of the list from the installations, artists, programs, and exhibitions that will be on display at Designart Tokyo this year:

AXIS Gallery

Joint Exhibition: Woodwork

Image © Masayuki Hayashi

MARUHON INC., Di+Re Products (TGDA+639), courtesy of Designart Tokyo

The AXIS Gallery was established in 1981 with the opening of AXIS, designed as a “space” for disseminating a variety of designs. The gallery is a collection of works based in wood, which is an indispensable material for furniture and interior design. 

Architect and designer Koichiro Oniki's ODS / Oniki Design Studio exhibits his new console table and low table “Forêt,” a three-dimensionally assembled table based on the development of the Japanese Kumiko technique. 

Additionally, Takusei Kajitani will present his CONSENTABLE, exploring the theme of a “Deep dive into what I want” - a theme representing the creator’s 10 years of designing to create what has yet to exist.

TGDA+639 (Gaku Takasu (TGDA) + Toshifumi Momose (Hikimono-sho 639)) will exhibit products that pursue a calculated geometrical beauty created through modifications and deconstructions such as deviations, tilts, rotations, and reversals in the production process following the concept of “deconstruction and reconstruction.”

Tokyo Midtown / During Tokyo Midtown’s Design Touch 2024

Three creators' works will be exhibited under the theme of “Woven DesignーWeaving the Future”

Yusuke Wakata's work. Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

Yusuke Wakata (Galleria 2F, beside lucien pellat-finet)

Yusuke Wakata presents "RE 47 Crafts," a project to upcycle local fruits and food scraps sourced from 47 prefectures, transforming them into new products. The upcycled materials were used to redesign and produce traditional crafts in collaboration with local artisans and producers. This exhibition will be an opportunity to learn about the culture and possibilities of each region.

AAAQ. Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

AAAQ (Galleria 2F, front of Aēsop)

AAAQ is a creative duo consisting of product designer Atsuro Miyako and user interface designer So Ohta, who were both selected for UNDER 30. 

The creators will present “Visible Stress,” a work that uses a phenomenon called “photoelasticity” to visualize forces invisible to the naked eye, allowing the viewer to appreciate the texture of light created by pressure. This work encourages the viewer to reconsider the way we casually perceive ourselves and our surroundings, and to imagine a world of beautiful hidden forces in the world around us.

Venue: Tokyo Midtown, 9-7-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo. 

Dates: Friday, October 11th - Monday, November 4th.

Aqua Clara × HONOKA| Trace of Water. Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

Hibiya Okuroji

Participating creators: CYUON × Naoto Ogawa, HONOKA, YUKAI KOGAKU, COLOR and WONDER, Ochi Baku (Smoke Artist)

Hibiya OKUROJI is tucked away deep in Ginza with impressive more than century- old brick arches. There will be unique exhibitions held under the 300 m-long walkway. AQUA CLARA, which boasts one of the largest water server market shares in Japan, will hold an exhibit showcasing bottle upcycling, exploring the potential of bottles as materials in co-creation with HONOKA, a design lab known for drawing out the appeal of materials/processes in their production.

Venue: Hibiya OKUROJI 1-7-1 Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.

KEF. Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

KEF Festival of Space Immersed in Sound and Light

KEF, an audio brand founded in the United Kingdom in 1961, will present an exhibition in collaboration with renowned designer Michael Young and Klein Dytham architecture (KDa), who designed the KEF Music Gallery in Aoyama, Japan. The venue for the event will be the KEF Music Gallery, which will feature an innovative multi-colored display of stick lights designed by Young back in the 1990s, accompanied by KEF designed LS60 Wireless Speakers, creating a fusion of the three artists' creations.

Venue: KEF Music Gallery Tokyo 5-5-6 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo.

Sony Group Creative Center / Create More Fun

Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

The Creative Center, design division of the Sony Group Corporation will be presenting “Create More Fun,” an interactive exhibition that explores the dynamics of CMF (Color, Material, Finish) and its integration in physical and digital dimensions at Aoyama “StellarWorks” showroom.

Venue: Stellar Works Showroom, Aoyama Bldg. 2F, 1-2-3 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo.

Works with experimental ideas and new perspectives

Nomura Co., Ltd. Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

Nomura Co., Ltd.

Being - What if furniture had a life of its own?

At Nomura Co., Ltd., our team of professionals focuses on the integrated creation of spaces where people gather, including commercial facilities, hotels, workplaces, expos, and museums. The Nomura design team reimagines the relationship between people and architectural objects, creating environments that foster connection and experience. 

This exhibition explores how our perception of furniture might evolve if we saw it as having life rather than simply existing. Through a series of experimental designs, we invite society to reconsider the changing value and relationship between people and objects.

Venue: GYRE 4F, 5-10-1 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.

Cocoon Anatomy. Image © Yasunari Kimura / FFP

Cocoon Anatomy

A selected member of UNDER 30, Hiroto Ikebe aims to bring new perspectives and values to the currently diminishing sericulture by reading and reinterpreting its existence and combining traditional techniques rooted in the land with the latest technology, creating new processes using waste products from cocoons as materials. 

The exhibition “Cocoon Anatomy” will present a garment created to revitalize the memory of the declining sericulture by visualizing the relationship between materials and producers, re-establishing an understanding of the textile production process in a world changed by industrialization.

Venue: foundation B1F, 9-5-12 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052.

Interior

New products and special exhibitions by interior design brands

Milano Design Week 2024. Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

Flexform - Between The Folds

Flexform Tokyo invites you on a journey through the world of “Flexform”, which permeates timeless and elegant beauty down to even the most minute details. See the 2024 new collection, a savoir-faire with origins in history and craftsmanship. The 2024 new collection features a reissued model by Antonio Citterio, a master of the Italian design world who has been supervising the brand for 40 years. Also on display will be a new armchair by Fumie Shibata, the first Japanese designer to join Flexform.

Venue: Flexform Tokyo, 6-4-10 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo. 

Dates: Friday, October 18th - Monday, November 4th, 2024 (closed on Wednesdays).

ACTUS, Eilersen Showroom. Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

Actus eilersen - The Quality Sofa

The furniture brand “eilersen” was established in Odense, Denmark in 1895 as a manufacturer of carriage bodies and seats, and is the most popular sofa brand in Scandinavia for its highly comfortable and universal design that blends into various spaces, with a careful selection of materials for every detail. Actus Marunouchi will hold “The Quality Sofa” exhibition in which visitors can experience both standard and first-time models from eilersen, which have always sought to provide the most comfortable seating experience.

Venue: Shin-Marunouchi Building 3F, 1-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.

Dates: Friday, September 6th - Monday, November 4th.

Art / Technology

Manami Numata × sync Inc./ Sky Pocket. Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

Manami Numata × sync Inc./ Sky Pocket

Manami Numata, an accomplished artist who has had numerous solo exhibitions and won numerous awards after graduating from the Tokyo University of the Arts, will hold a solo exhibition at “sync public,” located in the newly relocated office of sync Inc. 

Numata works alongside the eloquence of nature while residing in her hometown of Hagi City, and she has added a new colorful series based on the concept of “sky” to her body of work that captures her life and travels, using maps and still lifes as motifs. 

Venue: Shin-Aoyama Building West Wing 1F, 1-1-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo.

Dates: Wednesday, October 16th - Sunday, October 27th.

Marino. x Noi Studio. Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

Contemporary Artists Marino. x Noi Studio

Painting the Time of Nature - Fusion of original art and future AI art

Marino. is a contemporary artist who draws inspiration from the natural world and depicts “time” along with invisible beings. The delicate original drawings express the grandeur of nature and the transitions of time while giving the viewer a deep sense of empathy. This time, in collaboration with Noi Studio (Hideta Takagi Office), a leader in digital innovation in architectural design. 

The original drawings of the exhibition were augmented with new perspectives using digital technology to explore expressions that extend art into different domains, such as fashion and spatial design. Through the fusion of technology and art, the exhibition explores the future of art and its possibilities, and presents a new dialogue between nature and the digital.

Venue: 21-1 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Seibu Shibuya A Building 1F show window. 

Dates: Tuesday, October 15th - Monday, November 25th.

A variety of exhibits will be he ld in the Tokyo area

Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

Terence Conran - Making Modern Britain

An exhibition that explores the character of Terence Conran, a man who revolutionized the British way of life and culture

Sir Terence Conran (1931-2020) revolutionized British life and culture with his "Plain, Simple, Useful" designs. This is a large-scale exhibition of Conran's work, including "The Conran Shop," which he launched in the 1970s, and which helped spark a boom in design. More than 300 artworks and documents provide an insight into the personality of Terence Conran, a founder, designer, and man of many accomplishments in a wide range of businesses.

Venue: Tokyo Station Gallery, 1-9-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.

Dates Saturday, October 12th - Sunday, January 5th, 2025.

Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

The Conran Shop 30th Anniversary Project

Inspirations for the Next

The Conran Shop Marunouchi celebrates its 30th anniversary in Japan and introduces “INSPIRATIONS for the NEXT,” a new initiative with four designers (Momoko Kudo, Akihiro Kumagai, Shigeki Fujishiro, and Sera Yanagisawa) that aims to create contemporary furniture with an Asian and Japanese flavor, and that will serve as the foundation for new product development. The exhibition will feature the newest creations from the creators.

Straft, NEST. Image courtesy of Designart Tokyo

Straft Exhibition, “NEST”

The creator Straft, a member of the selected UNDER 30, will present “Exhibition ‘NEST,’” an exhibition of works using rice straw, which has long been revered as an object of prayer, used not only for roofs, walls, or daily life tools, but also in Shinto rituals. The exhibition will be held at the KARAKURI Gallery in Tokyo. In this perspective on the natural world, the creator seeks to live in harmony with nature, exploring the essence of spiritual richness that is needed today.

Venue: Keshiki B1F 6th Heiwa Building, 6-5 Nihonbashi Kabuto-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.

Image © Designart Tokyo

Designart Tokyo Exhibition facts

Theme: Reframing - the Beginning of a Shift 

Event Period: 10 days from Friday 18 October to Sunday 27 October 2024.

Area: Omotesando, Gaienmae, Harajuku, Shibuya, Roppongi, Hiroo, Ginza, Tokyo station area

Organizer: Designart Tokyo Committee

Number of exhibits: 117 (96 Venues)

Number of participating creators & brands: Approximately 300

Organizer: Designart Tokyo Committee Founders: Akio Aoki (MIRU DESIGN), Shun Kawakami (artless Inc.), Hiroshi Koike (NONGRID), OkisatoNagata (TIMELESS), Astrid Klein & Mark Dytham (Klein Dytham architecture).

Top image in the article: Jiabao Li (TransVision), courtesy of Designart Tokyo.

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Designart Tokyo exhibition