The exhibition event for the collaborative research project "
Ambient Weaving Collection – Environment and Textiles" conducted by ZOZO NEXT Inc., UTokyo, and Hosoo Co., Ltd. took place from August 1st (Tue), 2023 to August 7 (Mon) for seven days at the Tourist Communication Center "Have a Nice Tokyo! (hereinafter referred to as HaNT)" in Marunouchi, Chiyoda City, Tokyo.
At this exhibition, two works from the past achievement exhibition "Ambient Weaving – Environment and Textiles" and six works from the Woven Prototypes, a prototype group of R&D season were shown to the public for the first time. What was the response to these works?
A preview session by the three collaborative research project parties was held before the venue opened
A preview session for the parties involved in the collaborative research project was held at 10 a.m. on August 1st, ahead of the general opening. Masataka Hosoo, President and CEO of Hosoo Co., Ltd., Professor Yasuaki Kakehi from the Graduate School of Information Studies, UTokyo, and Kazuma Takahashi, COO of ZOZO NEXT Inc. made a presentation explaining the details of the collaborative research project.Furthermore, on behalf of the collaborative research project, Nakamaru from ZOZO NEXT gave an introduction on the overview of the exhibition and the highlights of the eight exhibited works.
After the presentation, the staff of the collaborative research project explained the details of each work and its development background at the venue.
Foreign tourists also dropped by
HaNT, the venue for this exhibition, is a facility that promotes the charm of Tokyo and Japan to domestic and foreign tourists.Located near Tokyo Station and connected to the station premises, many foreign tourists visited after the venue opened at noon. Curiously reading the English descriptions, they captured the beauty of the works in photos and videos.
Given its proximity to office buildings, business people also stopped by during their lunch breaks. We will introduce some of the impressions that the visitors had of each work.
"The initiative itself is interesting"
"I'm interested in the beginning of this project"
"It's fun to feel traditional crafts through experience"
"Listening to the developers, it's interesting to be able to see the works from various angles"
"Knowing how these textiles were born and what mechanisms they have, I wanted to see them again during the exhibition."
"I hoped that those who would come in the future would definitely look at the entire exhibition."
Among others, a lot of visitors were interested in understanding the textile 'WP002 <Optical Unveil>', which was unveiled for the first time at this exhibition. It changes its appearance depending on the incident light and the position of the viewer. Many visitors picked up the lighting tool prepared to let them experience this feature of the work and were intrigued by the changing patterns of the textile seen through it.