BTk Metal Garden -with Milano Air-
BASE TIMES kawaguchi is a collaborative project between five metalworking companies in Kawaguchi and designer Kazuhito Ishida. A collection of works showcasing the exceptional craftsmanship and advanced metalworking techniques of the five companies, first presented at Milan Design Week 2026, will appear in the Midtown Square under the title BTk Metal Garden. This special outdoor exhibition will bring a touch of Milan to Midtown, and DESIGN LIVE, where art, craftsmanship, and the the beautiful cityscape and changing light of Tokyo, reflected in the highly polished metal surfaces.
- Dates
- 10/16 (Fri)〜27(Tue)
- Venue
- Midtown Garden
- Hours
- 11:00 – 19:00
- Organizer
- BASE TIMES kawaguchi
WORKSHOP
Make a Sparkling Metal Keychain
Create your own keychain by choosing and arranging metal plates, acrylic pieces, and other parts in a variety of colors and shapes. Rare parts will also be available.
*The stools featured in the exhibition (available by pre-order) and clocks will be sold only during the workshop period.
- Dates
- 10/17 (Sat)・18(Sun)
- Hours
- 11:00–16:30 (last admission at 16:00)
- Admission
- ¥1,000 (tax included; AirPAY only)
- Activity
- Make a keychain by linking several metal charms with a ball chain.
- How to participate
- Register at the venue on the day.
SUPPORTER
Carré
Akasaki & Vanhuyse
A Structure That Draws the Eye to Its Cross-Sectional Pattern
A low stool of modest height, its four legs intersect at the center to support the seat, revealing the cross-sections of the legs at the very center of the surface. Beyond its precisely crafted form, the work draws attention to the intriguing question of how it was made—inviting us to look closely and imagine the process behind it.
Akasaki & Vanhuyse
Designer
A design studio founded in London in 2022 by Kenta Akasaki and Astrid Vanhuyse.
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FLIGHT
NAO IWAMATSU
The Emotional Pull of Artificial Light
Inspired by the flashing red aviation obstruction lights installed on high-rise buildings for air traffic safety. Despite their purely functional purpose, these pulsing lights dotting our built horizon instinctively draw our gaze. The piece evoke the spirit of our times—where the natural and the artificial, functional and emotional, intertwine—and to foster an awareness of the sensibility with which we embrace this reality.
NAO IWAMATSU
Industrial Designer
A Tokyo-based industrial designer informed by "Narrative Minimalism," Iwamatsu explores how to imbue products with a poetic presence while maintaining functionality, minimalist forms, and clear structures.
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NAWA coat stand
ERINA CALDEIRA
Finding Strength in Soft Rope
This piece takes a free-spirited approach to reimagine the potential of "rope," a material central to human life since ancient times. Flexible rope is gently bent into small arches, using tension to create rigidity and transforming the resulting forms into hooks for a coat stand.
ERINA CALDEIRA
Product Designer
A product designer based in Tokyo and Copenhagen. Engaged in the design and direction of everyday items, interior accessories, furniture, and more.
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JOKEI -scene (or memory)- danchi #7,#8
Yoshiaki Kanamori
Fragments of the City That Awaken Dormant Memories
Even when visiting a town for the first time, one sometimes feels a sense of deja-vu. Elements of the scenery—light, shadow, form, and texture—awaken scenes that had been slumbering deep in the recesses of memory. This work captures such scenic fragments as archetypal forms.
Yoshiaki Kanamori
Artist / Designer
Completed the Master’s program in Design at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts. Focusing on the individuality latent within the mass-produced urban landscapes, Kanamori creates sculptural and installation works which draw from everyday furniture and buildings.
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© Sawaki Ryohei
cedar stand
NAOKO KAWACHI
A Piece of Furniture Rooted in the Origins of Japanese Architecture
Traditional Japanese living spaces had little need for standalone furniture; many of the same functions were integrated into the architecture and the surrounding environment. This work combines Kitayama cedar, traditionally used for pillars and rafters, with transparent acrylic, creating an opportunity to look more closely at the everyday spaces we often take for granted.
© Manami Takahashi
NAOKO KAWACHI
Architect, Designer
Exploring the relationship between furniture and space through architectural thinking. Working across scales, she carefully considers materials, structure, form, and placement, seeking to create objects with a refined, honest, possessing a quiet strength.
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SLATE CRATE
HIROAKI KAWANAMI
Creating an Unfamiliar Crate from a Familiar Material
Corrugated slate sheets are a familiar sight on warehouse exteriors and other industrial buildings. Upon closer inspection, it reveals a texture and hue reminiscent of unglazed pottery, and cast beautiful shadows that evoke the folds of a curtain. It is a material also possesses structural strength. By taking a fresh look at these qualities, the work transforms corrugated slate into a versatile wooden crate.
HIROAKI KAWANAMI
Design Director
After working at Nippon Design Center and Hara Design Institute, Kawanami established his own practice. He engages in cross-disciplinary direction and design, from two-dimensional, and three-dimensional works, to interiors.
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Ceiling
James Kaoru Bury
Discovering Beauty in Everyday Materials
Gypsum board is commonly used for walls and ceilings. This work repurposes material discarded during its manufacturing process, infused with vibrant colors, to elevate it into a new product. It is an attempt to discover unexpected beauty, by taking a closer look at the familiar.
James Kaoru Bury
Product Designer
We pursue the creation of sustainable value for daily life and work environments through material, product, and spatial design.
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Toi
JUNICHIRO YOKOTA
A Contemporary Perspective on Washi
Washi paper has been cherished for over a thousand years as a medium for the written word. By studying how washi is made and reconsidering its uses, textures, strength, and other qualities from multiple perspectives, this work reimagines it as a lighting fixture for contemporary life. We honor tradition while embracing a fresh, contemporary sensibility.
JUNICHIRO YOKOTA
Industrial Designer
Yokota engage in various product design projects, exploring inherent and new values through unconventional perspectives and approaches that challenge preconceived ideas.
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Matter / Brick
studio monoya
Seeing Waste as an Object
These works are created by collecting and processing particularly distinctive pieces of used refractory brick—material that would otherwise be classified as industrial waste. They invite us to contemplate their forms, the traces they bear—their very existence. Through the act of observing at them a variety of new interpretations begin to emerge.
studio monoya
Design studio/Object shop
Based in Kyoto, studio monoya operates across two interconnected paths: as a retail outlet and as a design studio. The shop presents objects intuitively collected and arranged in space, independent of origin or intended function, offering fresh new ways of interpretation. The design studio, drawing from this sensibility of collection and curation, also explores fresh relationships between objects and space, through design and direction, continually questioning the discourse of their interactions.
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Pippin
Yoshino Takayama
Captivated by Movement in the Physical World
Yoshino Takayama creates "devices that—for some reason—compel you to keep watching." Among them, "Pippin" is said to be one of her most enigmatic works. Its unique movements are influenced by forces such as friction and gravity, reflecting the complexity and richness of this world.
Yoshino Takayama
Designer
Currently enrolled in the Integrated Design program within the Department of Design, Graduate School of Art and Design at Tama Art University. A recipient of the KUMA Foundation’s 9th and 10th term grants and the Taiju Sasaki Scholarship, Takayama was also the winner of Design Tide Class of 2025.
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Inscribed Time
Shizuka Tatsuno
Turning Our Attention to Overlooked Individuality
Two forms are juxtaposed: one made from uniform, carefully selected timber and the other from uneven and distinctive wood typically considered difficult to work with. The grain bears witness to the environments each grew up in, and the passage of time. Looking closely at their individual characteristics and backstories can inspire us to consider diverse ways of living. This work emerged from Traces of Life a research project with Karimoku Furniture.
Shizuka Tatsuno
Creative Director & Designer
Tatsuno’s strength lies in identifying and making visible the potential inherent within things. Working primarily in product design, she is active across a broad range of fields, including creative direction and art.
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Artificial and dried flowers that were arranged
Norihiko Terayama
Fascinated by the Order of Plants and Plastic
The materials used in this artwork are real and plastic plants. While encountering plastic waste in a managed forest, where trees are planted at regular intervals, evokes a feeling of unease, the experience of gazing at natural plant life, with plastic, evokes a strange sense of comfort.
Norihiko Terayama
Designer, Artist
After studying at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, where he immersed himself in conceptual design, Terayama returned to Japan to practice in the fields of art and design.
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Weaving Structure
DAISY BALLOON
Lacquer That Preserves the Memory of a Balloon’s Form
The single layer of lacquer coating the balloon's surface in time hardens into a membrane retaining the balloon's form, while the balloon itself slowly deflates. When lacquer, which preserves form, encounters a balloon whose form is destined to disappear, two unlikely materials intertwine, revealing an invisible “shape of memory” as a work of art.
In collaboration with: Keiko Nishimura (Urushi lacquer artisan)
© Go Itami
DAISY BALLOON
Artist unit
An artist unit formed by balloon artist Rie Hosokai, and art director and graphic designer Takashi Kawada.
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Spirale
Mio Hatakenaka
A Form Inspired by the Movements of Craftspeople
A glass object created in collaboration with artisans, utilizing a traditional technique of hand-blowing glass to form chandelier arms. For Hatakenaka, observing the movements of the craftspeople served as the departure point for the design. It is a piece that "gazes" and engages us all: we who observe it, and our surrounding environment.
Mio Hatakenaka
Designer
Designer and maker. In 2024, she founded anypress, a design studio which also does the occasional handyman job.
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Still Staring
Saaya Harue(tog)
Being Looked At Makes Me Want To Look Back
This device looks at you. Even when you look away, it does not stop looking at you. It can be easily affixed and removed from furniture. Its concept is quite different from designs which attempt to naturally draw the eye because they're beautiful.
Furniture provided by: Hida Sangyo (HIDA, Galleria 3F)
Collaborators: Hiroshi Morii (Technical Director), Kanta Kobayashi (System Engineer), Kaito Hayashi (tog)
Saaya Harue(tog)
Designer
Product designer, born in 1999; graduate of Musashino Art University, founder of the design collective "tog." Previously worked in manufacturing design firms, she is currently active as both an independent designer and corporate design consultant.
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Sheet light
Ryota Yokozeki
Light as a New Possibility for Everyday Life
A lighting fixture made by shaping two flat sheets of material into a curved form with integrated light source. While seemingly simple, in terms of choice of materials, structural integrity, quality of illumination, ease of transport, and assembly, the work presents new possibilities for illuminating everyday life from multiple perspectives.
Ryota Yokozeki
Product Designer
Yokozeki is a product designer and creative director working internationally, across a wide range of projects including furniture, home appliances, and everyday objects. His AIZOME chair is represented in the permanent collection of the Vitra Design Museum.
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