mintdesigns was established by Hokuto Katsui and Nao Yagi in 2001 following their return to Japan after graduating from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. The clothing mintdesigns proposes is bold, rich in color, created from textiles of unique, graphical motifs, winning them a large number of fans. Meanwhile, in recent years mintdesigns has been garnering attention not just from fashion buyers but across a wide spectrum of realms. These include their participation in Milano Salone, winning of the Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix, mounting of solo exhibitions both in Japan and abroad (Fukuoka, Taipei, etc.), and collaboration with other industries such as sundry goods, furniture and Japanese sweets.
Today, sixteen years after mintdesigns was founded, the concept that underlies Katsui and Yagi’s creative activities remains unchanged: their desire to establish fashion as an aspect of product design. What they aim for is to create clothing with a long life span, like products that enrich everyday life slowly over the course of time, never getting caught up in the whirling pace of constantly changing trends. They devote their talents to the fabrication of textiles, commencing their creative work from their materials, all the while experimenting repeatedly based on their deep understanding of each material’s special characteristics. They stay close to the rules of fashion but add their own unique perspective of product design, and with their playful graphic work they have established an inimitable originality all their own.
This exhibition will use three gallery spaces to introduce visitors to the worldview of mintdesigns, a creative unit that, with a consistent concept, has continuously expanded the borders of fashion design, at all times bringing the appeal of design into focus. mintdesigns designs products that are “wearable graphics.” Through this exhibition we are sure that visitors will quickly recognize their abiding appeal.