alter. Executive Committee Two weeks left until “alter. 2025, Tokyo,” an event aimed at promoting innovation in Japanese product design

[alter. Executive Committee] Two Weeks Left Until “alter. 2025, Tokyo,” an Event to Promote Innovation in Japanese Product Design ​ alter. Executive Committee Press Release: October 24, 2025 To Members of the Media Two weeks left until “alter. 2025, Tokyo,” an event aimed at inspiring innovation in Japanese product design. Information about programs during the event has been released, including a shop fixture production project by teenagers and recorded talks featuring a variety of experts. Image
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Alter. will be held at Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall for three days from Friday, November 7th to Sunday, November 9th, 2025. It is an experimental design event that promotes prototyping and collaboration among the next generation of creators from diverse fields, and presents alternative approaches to product design. Eleven projects and a total of 59 creators, selected by committee members who are leaders in the global design scene, will exhibit their products. • For information about alter., please refer to the . With just two weeks until the first event, information about the various programs taking place at the venue during the event has been posted on the official website. Check out the details for more information, including a “SHOWCASE” event where teenagers will design and create shop fixtures based on the theme of “user creativity,” as well as a publicly recorded talk program featuring guests from a diverse range of genres, including TENGA CEO and founder Koichi Matsumoto, who redefines sex as a creative human act; artist Rintaro Fuse, who represents the new wave of Japanese media art and contemporary art; and cutting-edge graphic designers and creative studios leading the local creative scenes in Indonesia and China. SHOWCASE/ MARKET
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/169332/2/169332-2-0be56d103dbc8c0d97ba83c86efa4543-1500×1127.png Class situation at GAKU SHOWCASE In collaboration with “GAKU,” a creative school for teenagers located on the 9th floor of Shibuya Parco, we launched a product design educational program called “Composition for the Viewer” in August 2025, with a total of eight classes. Based on the theme of “user creativity,” the program explored product design based on the user’s creativity, working with the open-minded teenage students. The final outcome of the class will be the design and production of display fixtures for “alter. Market.” Sponsored by: Karimoku Furniture Co., Ltd. Cooperation (Provided by): Karimoku Furniture Co., Ltd., REMARE Co., Ltd. Cooperation: Rondade, Odoriba/ STUDIO Dai, FOLT Planning and Management: GAKU MARKET This market is made up of alter.’s exhibiting creators, active in a variety of fields and across genres. Past works, prototypes, and books that inspired them showcase the thoughts, processes, and clues that led to the product designs in this exhibition, stimulating visitors’ perspectives and sensibilities. Art book selection: twelvebooks Fixture design: Rondade, Odoriba/STUDIO Dai, FOLT TALK During the alter. exhibition, publicly recorded talk sessions will be held at the venue. With a diverse range of guests, we will shed light on the issues surrounding modern product design, from the challenges facing product designers today to the creativity of viewers/users, repairs and modifications, and manufacturing connected to the digital realm. * The talk will be a publicly recorded event, and an audio recording will be available for streaming after the event. * Due to limited seating, standing room only may be available. * No advance
reservations required. First-come, first-served admission on the day. * Viewing may be restricted during busy periods to ensure safety. * Please refrain from recording or taking photos. Official staff may provide notes.
Friday, November 7th, 4:00 PM (approx. 90 minutes) The Current State of Product Design: Where is the Future Design Scene? alter.
Participating Creators This year’s alter. event features many young creators born after the 1990s. They go beyond product design in the narrow sense to collaborate with creators of their generation across disciplines and even engage in commercial practice. How do these creators view the future of the design scene and the role of designers? Many creators will be on stage and participating in roundtable discussions. Friday, November 7th, 6:00 PM (approx. 90 minutes) The current state of product design: Thinking about Asian beauty today. Rege Indrastudianto (Designer/GMK Founder) Wanqi (Devolution Founder) Meng Jinhui (Yi Shi Yi Se, BIE Founder) Shunsuke Ishikawa (KESIKI Representative Director) “Beauty” is not just about form or decoration; it also resides in a way of life and a way of looking at the world. Until now, Asian beauty has been evaluated within the context of Western values, but by reexamining Asian practices from a personal perspective, new possibilities for beauty may emerge. We have invited creators currently visiting Japan from Indonesia and China to attempt to redefine “beauty” that transcends culture and time. November 8th (Sat) 13:00- (approx. 90 minutes) Design for the Individual: Expanding the Recipient’s Creativity Tatsuyuki Sugino (Design Collective / Creative Studio DODI
Representative) Hirotaka Fukui (Director/Artist) GAKU (Creative School for Teenagers)
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/169332/2/169332-2-2dc77728c6093df5b64bacec53a980af-3900×1276.png Design and creativity are not just the responsibility of creators. Recipients such as viewers and users can also be considered
contributors to creativity. Together with DODI, which is engaged in a variety of activities focusing on the creative process, and director Fukui Hirotaka, who creates theatrical works that question the relationship between people and objects, and teenage GAKU students who have participated in a workshop that questions the “creativity of users,” we will consider how to expand the creativity of recipients. Saturday, November 8th, 3:00 PM (approx. 90 minutes) Design for the Individual: Manufacturing Born from Ego (tentative title) Koichi Matsumoto (TENGA Co., Ltd.) Representative Director and Founder) Takuto Ota (Designer/Artist)
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/169332/2/169332-2-507bb30b394052c58f4ee8a3b26554b2-3900×1276.png Unprecedented products are sometimes born from overwhelming individual ego. TENGA founder Koichi Matsumoto, who articulated the term “self-pleasure” in a positive way, created designs that challenged social taboos and stereotypes by thoroughly exploring human desire. How should designers deal with their own egos? Together with Takuto Ota, who is also a member of alter., we will consider creations that arise from the individual. November 9th (Sunday) 13:00- (approx. 90 minutes) Designing the Frontier: The Right to Repair, the Freedom to Modify TBD Products are not unilaterally determined by designers; their appearance often changes through interaction with users. While focusing on the debate over the “right to repair,” which is being legislated in Europe, we will consider the creativity that emerges from users’ proactive intervention in products, not just through repair but also through modification. November 9th (Sunday) 15:00- (approx. 90 minutes) Designing Frontiers: Expanding Interfaces Rintaro Fuse (Artist) Tora Koyama (Philosopher)
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/169332/2/169332-2-8dffad920a686419887b5b7c2d406281-3900×1276.png From PC GUIs to smartphones and head-mounted displays, new interfaces not only create new experiences but also constantly update the way humans perceive the world, transforming the relationship between people and objects. Together with artist Rintaro Fuse, who has recently taken an interest in interfaces, and Tora Koyama, a specialist in computer history, we will explore what possibilities emerge from ever-expanding interfaces. *For details and additional information on various programs, please visit the official alter. website: Information Event overview Name ｜alter. 2025, Tokyo (Alter. 2025, Tokyo) Venue: Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall | 4th and 5th Floors, COREDO Muromachi 1, 2-2-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (Entrance 4th Floor) Dates: November 7th (Fri) – November 9th (Sun), 2025 Time | November 7th (Friday), 8th (Saturday) 11:00 – 20:00, November 9th (Sunday) 11:00 – 17:00 Admission fee | 1 day ticket ¥2,000 (students ¥1,000) ｜3-day pass ￥3,000 (students ¥2,000) ｜* Free for junior high school students and younger * Student discount only available upon presentation of student ID Contents | EXHIBITION: Product exhibit from a collaborative project between creators from different industries ｜SHOWCASE: An experimental program that raises issues from outside the industry, such as among teenagers and people from other industries. ｜MARKET: A market that connects creators and audiences and expands their creativity. ｜TALK: A publicly recorded talk program with a different theme each day. ｜AWARD: Awards selected by globally active committee members Organizer: | alter. Executive Committee Sponsors and Cooperation: | Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. (Special Sponsor), Karimoku Furniture Co., Ltd. (Sponsor and Cooperation) ｜SAY HI TO_ (media partner), dezeen (media partner), etc. Website ｜https://altertokyo.com/ SNS ｜Instagram @altertokyo, X @alter_tokyo Contact ｜contact@altertokyo.com
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/169332/2/169332-2-860cf86ad6c2770777a9dad251771969-2000×1750.png Project Participating Creators: Aoi Yamada, Akiyama Ryota (★), Ishiki Yuru, Ishizaki Asako, Akiko Isobe, Yuta Itagaki (★), Naohide Inagaki, Tomoaki Inoue, Takeshi Inoue, Yuki Inoue, Sho Iwasaki, Satoshi Iwashita, we (★), Juichi Ueda, Masashi Usami, Yojiro Oshima, Takuto Ota, Hiroaki Onishi, Mamiko Kamiyama, Daiki Kameyama, Kohei Kawatani (★), Misa Kono (★), Kazuki Kimura, GYOSHA, Azusa Kurihara, Shunji Sato, Takahiro Shiramizu, Shinsudan Lee, Tatsuyuki Sugino (★), Yasuhiro Suzuki, Rikuo Takada (★), Jun Takano (★), Shintaro Takano, Teru Takahashi, Daiki Tadashi, Takuro Tamayama, Nana Sari Tamura, Shoji Terada, Tokyo Kodo, TORI, Akira Tomita, Tohei Nakatake, Yuma Nishida (★), Ryusuke Niwa, Chikei Hara, Ryoya Shinji, Junya Fukumoto, Souma Furutachi, POETIC CURIOSITY (Yusuke Aonuma Kensei Miyoshi) (★), Yosuke Matsushita, Ryota Mizusako, Hana Mitsui (★), Haruki Miyake, Monoya, Heijiro Yagi, Shoma Yamamoto, Shinya Yoshichi, Gongzhen Liu (11 groups, 59 participants / alphabetical order) * (★) indicates the project representative