[Roundtable] Masataka Hosoo, Yasuaki Kakehi, & Yuki Kanayama – "The Fusion of Digital & Physical, Pioneering Textile Development Ideas"

Project Foil, the first textile development project by the ZOZO Group. In the joint research on "the development of new textiles that combine functionality and beauty," undertaken with HOSOO Co., Ltd. and the Information Science and Technology Laboratory led by Associate Professor Yasuaki Kakehi of the University of Tokyo, works combining traditional crafts, advanced materials, and interaction technologies were created. Currently, the ongoing exhibition of the results, "Ambient Weaving─Environment and Textile," showcases five works including color changes due to environmental temperature, fabric embedded with computer-controlled organic EL lighting, and hardening through UV irradiation.

How was such a project, combining tradition with pioneering technology, realized? What does this attempt signify, and what does the future hold beyond it? This time, we delve into the ideas that led to this project through a discussion between Masataka Hosoo, President and Representative Director of HOSOO Co., Ltd.; Yasuaki Kakehi, Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Information Science and Technology; and Yuki Kanayama, President and CINO (Chief Innovation Officer) of ZOZO Technologies, Inc.