An art exhibition of a joint research project by ZOZO NEXT Inc., UTokyo, and Hosoo Co., Ltd., "
Ambient Weaving Collection – Environment and Textiles" will be held for seven days from August 1 (Tuesday) to August 7 (Monday) at the Tourist Communication Center 'Have a Nice TOKYO!' located in Marunouchi, Chiyoda City, Tokyo.
At this exhibition, they will publically unveil two works from the previous exhibition "Ambient Weaving Collection – Environment and Textiles" and six prototype products developed during the R&D season, "Woven Prototypes".
What are these new woven works from "Woven Prototypes"? Satoshi Nakamaru, Kayato Sasaki, and Motoki Takano, who are in charge of this project at ZOZO NEXT, spoke to us about them.
PROFILE
Satoshi Nakamaru
Nakamaru joined ZOZO Technologies (now ZOZO NEXT) in 2019. He serves as a director in the MATRIX IoT/Textile division, responsible for new technology development and commercialization. He holds a doctorate in Policy and Media. He specializes in developing soft functional materials and devices and designing their interaction and UX. He is engaged in the R&D and commercialization of smart textiles. He's received the ACM DIS 2019 Best Paper, the Ars Electronica Festival Starts Prize Honorary mention, and other awards.
PROFILE
Kayato Sasaki
After experience in advertising promotions, interactive installations, interactive content, and web production at production company, he joined ZOZO NEXT in 2022. He works on the IoT/Textile team, which conducts research and development and commercialization of smart textiles. He assists in the development of new textiles and project progress.
PROFILE
Motoki Takano
A device engineer, Takano joined ZOZO NEXT in 2022. He takes charge of circuit design, enclosure design, and hardware-software implementation on the IoT/Textile team of the MATRIX division. The team develops new seeds technologies related to smart textiles and device technologies, designs interactions using these technologies, and works on their commercialization.
The New Works Have 'Overlap' As a Keyword
Please tell us about "Ambient Weaving Collection – Environment and Textiles (in Have a Nice TOKYO!)".
NakamaruIn this exhibition, we will display a total of eight pieces in Marunouchi, Tokyo: two works from the "STARTS Prize 2022" which received an honorary award and attracted attention at overseas exhibitions, and six new works that will be unveiled for the first time.
There is also an area in the exhibition introducing reference materials for understanding the project's process and research on history. This way, in addition to the eight works, attendees can also understand the overall outline of the project.
In addition to the exhibits from ARS ELECTRONICA 2022, there will also be new works at this exhibition.
NakamaruWe maintain the concept of Ambient Weaving, which shares environmental information through textiles or makes textiles a part of the environment.
The new works have 'Overlap' as a keyword. Technically, functions are realized by overlapping weaving and materials to form multiple layers, or by arranging the warp and weft at specific positions.
In terms of expression, we have works that create colors by combining textiles and works that attempt to create new experiences by adding sounds and lights to the space through textiles.
To let you feel the flexibility of the textiles, we've designed them to have curved surfaces and movements.
Please tell us about the details of the new Woven Prototypes (6 works), what you focused on in how they're presented, their expression part, etc.
Nakamaru"WP001 <Sounds>" is a textile with a unique feature that combines a new function with the fabrication shape characteristic of textiles. It has a material with electrodes provided on both sides of a piezoelectric polymer film, woven into it as foil, and functions as a speaker.
Sasaki"WP002 <Optical Unveil>" is a result of reflection and interference occurring simultaneously with special foil, making the appearance change depending on the angle of incident light and the viewer's position. The design itself is crafted according to this material.
NakamaruThe 'WP003 <Layers＞' textile, which uses a foil made of a polarizing plate and OPP tape, causing color to appear when woven in, is displayed in a way that effectively changes colors with lighting carefully taken into consideration.
