alter. Tokyo: A new design event for cross-disciplinary collaboration
The experimental event format showcased 11 projects composed by 59 emerging Japanese designers and artists selected by an international selection committee.
Across the world, various design weeks, events, and curated exhibitions take place, aiming to showcase the best of the design panorama in their respective countries. Sometimes, joining those events is often extremely expensive, especially for emerging designers who have innovative ideas but cannot afford the high fees required to showcase their work. So, how can a design event be truly innovative, support the new generation of designers, and give them the opportunity to be noticed by a wide audience? alter. Tokyo launched its first edition precisely with that vision, aiming to become a milestone in the sector.
“The starting point for alter. was a quiet but persistent feeling that Tokyo’s built environment had become too homogeneous, its design language repeating, its energy flattening,” said Yuta Takeda, founder of alter. “In product and interior design, large budgets and commission‑based structures dominate the field, and because of that, designers rarely have the freedom to take risks, and clients—faced with financial stakes—naturally rely on familiar names”.
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Together with his team, Yuta wanted to create a platform where emerging designers could experiment and introduce new ideas, challenging conventional notions of what is considered aesthetic. “A place where they could take risks that the existing system doesn’t allow. That wish to widen the field of possibility, and to let new values surface, is what ultimately became alter.” Held from the 7th to the 9th of November at Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall in Tokyo, the event brought together 56 creators from different disciplines, including photographers, musicians, engineers, and art directors, who collaborated to create eleven unique design and research projects.
These were selected by an experienced committee composed of Tanja Hwang (Design Curator and Researcher at MoMA, New York), Olivier Zeitoun (Design Curator and Researcher at Centre Pompidou, Paris), Formafantasma, Keisuke Nakamura (architect and representative of SKWAT), and Kristen de La Vallière (Founder of the curated platform say hi to_). The selected ideas also had the chance to receive grants of up to 3M JPY (around 16k euros) to support their realisation. With this combination of financial and curatorial support, alter. set the stage for a new model of product design exhibitions.
Here is a selection of projects that illustrate how cross‑disciplinary collaboration can generate unique concepts, installations, and products.
Project selection:
Unseen Objects by we+ and Heiwa Gokin
After presenting a vase collection at Milan Design Week 2025, the Japanese studio we+, together with Heiwa Gokin, set out to reinterpret tools, textures, and the uncontrolled forms that emerge from the casting process. With this project, the collaborative team aimed to elevate overlooked elements into pieces that can be perceived as art, redefining and restoring value to craftsmanship. In doing so, the project uncovers the hidden beauty of foundry work, transforming fragments into objects that celebrate tradition while opening new perspectives for contemporary design.
Voidbark by Daiki Kameyama, Shinya Rachi, Sho Iwazaki and Yuma Nishida
This collaboration began with Kameyama Lumber Mill, based in Shizuoka and the Tokai region, which processes over 700 tons of lumber annually and discards more than 50 tons of bark from fine woods such as walnut and zelkova each year. Yumi Nishida (founder of OTHER DESIGN) recognized the potential of this overlooked material and developed the blueprint and design concepts.
Later, Sho Iwazaki (founder of Iwakagu, a woodworking studio in Shizuoka) applied his expertise to transform the bark into new products, giving new value to this material. Finally, Shinya Rachi captured the concept through visual imagery, expressing the essence and significance of this local project. Here, the vision of alter is clear: a project that began with the problem of leftovers and brought together diverse figures to create a unique narrative, one that carries genuine value.
OMOIYARI PROJECT by Jun Takano, Masashi Usami, Naohide Inagaki
Omoiyari began with the idea of reinterpreting medical instruments, focusing on the stent as a material rarely seen outside hospitals. For this project, a spatial designer, a product designer at a medical device company, and a freelance industrial designer collaborated to create an installation that transformed the stent’s structure into new forms.
BUDS, made from medical stents, and DANDELION, a 3D‑printed artificial flower, were positioned across a 15 m² space. Thanks to the cooperation of Terumo Corporation, a real stent model was also displayed, offering visitors a rare chance to see up close a medical device usually hidden from everyday life and to discover its unexpected structure and aesthetic qualities.
These three projects embody alter.’s mission and vision. “The uniqueness of alter. through cross-disciplinary collaboration alter. is not a space where young designers simply arrive with finished works. It’s designed as a place where creators who speak different “languages of making” can work together—even when their perspectives do not fully align,” Yuta told DesignWanted. Some outcomes are functional, others more conceptual, yet together they demonstrate the strength of a new wave of Japanese designers and creatives.
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