In September 2026, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) hosts the Craft x Tech Tokai Project, which connects Japanese craft with contemporary design.<\/p>\n
Craft x Tech Tokai brings together craft businesses and makers from six production areas across three prefectures in Japan’s T\u014dkai region with six creative teams working in Japan and abroad, reinterpreting craft techniques through furniture, lighting, spatial works, and contemporary art.<\/b><\/p>\n
The name might suggest a project that introduces AI or digital technology into traditional craft. Looking at the six actual works, though, that isn’t the whole story. Firing clay, forming paper by hand, binding and dyeing cloth, firing cloisonn\u00e9 enamel, painting porcelain, braiding cord\u2014to these the project adds structural design, light, other materials, and international design thinking, opening up applications beyond the crafts’ traditional uses.<\/p>\n
From 30 May to 2 June 2026, the six new works had their world premiere at kudan house in Tokyo, before travelling to the V&A for their London showing alongside London Design Festival 2026 (hereafter LDF2026). LDF2026 itself runs from 12 to 20 September, but the Craft x Tech Tokai showing has been officially announced to continue until 18 October. Rather than presenting the six works simply as “a collaboration between Japanese traditional craft and overseas design,” we look at them through one question: what did each technique retain, what changed, and what new applications emerged?<\/b> From there, we go further\u2014into what makes an international collaboration on this scale coherent, and what a production area or company should prepare when working with an overseas designer.<\/p>\n Table of Contents<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\uff08Source\uff1aThe Craft x Tech Tokai Project heads to London | Craft x Tech<\/a>\uff09<\/p>\n