As the 10th anniversary edition of Designart Tokyo gets underway, Jane Englefield reports on six highlights from the citywide festival of Japanese creativity.
Designart Tokyo opened on 30 October and will remain open across Tokyo until 8 November.
Around 150 projects by exhibitors from 13 countries are on display at various galleries and other pop-up locations throughout the city.
This year’s main exhibition venue is the former site of the Tokyo Expressway, also known as the KK Line, a portion of which is now an elevated park in the heart of Ginza.
Designart Tokyo’s first dedicated design store is also located on site, selling works from brands including Nendo and Alessi, as well as designers Ronan Bouroullec and Kwangho Lee.
Read on for six of our highlights from the event:
Pulling Apart by Nomura
Pulling Apart is a novel adhesive on display as part of the Daikanyama exhibition Separation: Designed to Come Apart, which includes various products created to allow for fluid disassembly and recycling.
Tokyo studio Nomura created the project with the knowledge that, when glue-based adhesives are applied to timber or metal, they are often difficult or impossible to remove. This can mean that materials suffer indelible marks or cannot be recycled at the end of their life.
Nomura’s adhesive is a strong but flexible tape, which firmly holds heavy materials in place. But once the tape is tugged, it stretches and comes away easily.
“Leave one end within reach behind the plinth or under the tabletop, and when the time comes, a single pull undoes the whole thing,” said Nomura.
The tape was developed with easy-disassembly bonding technology developed by Aica Kogyo Company and is still in the prototype phase.
Peco Poco by Howdunit
“Peco poco” is a common Japanese onomatopoeia describing a growling stomach.
Experimental design studio Howdunit used the phrase as its starting point for this table lamp, which can be manually unfolded like an accordion thanks to a small hook built into the top of the shade.
Made from delicate layers of gauzy textile, the light opens with a “rhythmic ‘peco poco’ motion” and can be set at various heights.
“By continually asking how things are made, we aim to discover new possibilities in design,” said Howdunit founders Haruto Kamijo and Sho Tasaki.
Forest: Perspectives by Oji Holdings and We+
Tokyo paper manufacturer Oji Holdings is presenting an exhibition in Ginza that meditates on our perspectives on forests.
The manufacturer asked nine professionals, from designers and wood specialists to a writer and a chef, to visit the network of forests it manages and share their individual responses to the landscape.
Among them are delicately whittled spoons made from fallen branches and wood sheets crafted out of bark using a process similar to making washi paper.
The exhibition was laid out in an encyclopedic display designed by local studio We+, founded by Toshiya Hayashi and Hokuto Ando.
Box by 21B Studio
Founded in 2021, Tokyo-based 21B Studio is presenting an exhibition at Shibuya’s brutalist-style Tiers Gallery.
Box is the first solo show by the young studio, conceived to demonstrate the myriad ways we can create the humble paper box through various folds and incisions.
The studio is giving out an intricately designed flatpack poster advertising the exhibition, which, once assembled, resembles the geometric architecture of Tiers Gallery itself.
Tempura Object by Cecil Nabenashi
Over in Tokyo Midtown, design master’s student Cecil Nabenashi is presenting a playful exhibition of vases and bowls made of deep-fried paper and fibres.
Nabenashi looked to tempura, Japanese food that is coated in batter and deep-fried in oil, when creating the project.
His goal was to experiment with his “tempura” technique to see if it could provide a long-lasting finish for design objects, using a “batter” he developed from a specially developed blend of non-edible ingredients.
The designer told Dezeen that he plans for his next challenge to be a deep-fried garment.
Industrial Romanticism
Industrial Romanticism is an exhibition on display at Minato’s Axis Gallery, Japan’s first dedicated design gallery founded in 1981.
The show is a group exhibition held by designers Yoshiki Matsuyama and Ryota Yokozeki, who asked eight leading Japanese companies to take part.
In-house designers at each of the companies, including bathroom brand Toto and camera maker Fujifilm, created prototypes of recognisable products with an imaginative twist.
Among the designs is a piano made by Ryusuke Baba of musical instrument maker Yamaha. Baba created the piano from pieces of timber that would normally be rejected for an instrument, creating a keyboard with an offbeat sound.
Designart Tokyo 2026 takes place from 30 October to 8 November 2026 at various locations across Tokyo, Japan. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
