One exploring how the brand works with folds, and the other featuring the concept behind APOC, but applied to lamps

Tokyo’s design scene currently presents a double-bill that underscores the enduring genius of the Issey Miyake universe: a philosophy where material innovation meets structural poetry. One, Issey Miyake: Folded Forms, Formed Reflections feature the sub-brand 132 5. Issey Miyake and the other, Type-XIII Atelier Oï Project, a display of lamps conceived with the Swiss architecture and design firm Atelier Oï. Both show Issey Miyake’s boundary-pushing fabric manipulation that is not Pleats Please or Bao Bao. Perhaps, more importantly, they illustrate how a studio continues to underscore innovation while guided by traditional craftsmanship synonyms with Japan.

Issey Miyake: Folded Forms, Formed Reflections shows how folding, usually with mathematical precision and flair, can yield shapes that traditional pattern making cannot. Folding does not only create surface patterns, but also internal volume that utilises the space between the body and the garment as an element of design. What’s also fascinating is how the clothes easily collapse into a flat form for easy storage or packing, just like paper origami. The exhibition show notes describe the works on display as “folding structures”, which make the garments appear rigid, but they are, in fact, so wearably soft they feel like an apology for their own angularity.

Two ‘folded’ dresses, one in paper, one in fabric, from Issey Miyake: Folded Forms, Formed Reflections

Lamps that take on the textures of Issey Miyake fabrics in Type-XIII Atelier Oï Project

The collaborationType-XIII Atelier Oï Project, first exhibited in Milan in April, proves that the brand’s foundational idea—the nearly thirty-year-old A Piece of Cloth (A-POC)—is not just for dressing the body, but for illuminating the home. It’s a beguiling, sculptural shift from the runway to the living room (or any room that requires considered lighting), where A-POC ABLE Issey Miyake and Atelier Oï combine pleated textiles and simple wire frames to create soft, futuristic light fixtures that are tactile to boot. The result is a series of lamps that act as delicate, glowing stellate shapes, proving that material thoughtfulness can seamlessly transcend from textile to illumination.

These two exhibitions are more than a showcase of products; they are practically a thesis statement on the enduring, transformative, and vital importance of the Issey Miyake brand in the world of fashion and design. The studio has constantly looked away from the traditional top-down approach where the designer dictates the final form. Instead, the wearer (or user, in the case of the lamps) is an active participant in the creative process. The collapsible, easy-to-store nature of the Folded Forms garments and the Type-XIII lamps emphasises functionality and portability. The exhibitions solidify Issey Miyake’s status as a “future craft” pioneer, merging scientific rigor and innovative technology for products that are witty and perennial.

Issey Miyake: Folded Forms, Formed Reflections is on at Issey Miyake Ginza/445 until 11 November. Type-XIII Atelier Oï Project can be viewed at Midtown Gardens until 24 November. Admissions are free. Photos: Jiro Shiratori for SOTD