EN
  • Art piece
  • Cartier
  • Centre Pompidou
  • Chair
  • Christian Dior
  • Cosmetics
  • Desalto
  • Design Miami
  • Driade
  • FANCL
  • Furniture
  • GLAS ITALIA
  • Glass
  • Glass Tea House - KOU-AN
  • Hermès
  • Honey-pop
  • ISSEY MIYAKE
  • Kartell
  • LG
  • Logo
  • Louis Vuitton
  • Mirror
  • MOROSO
  • Musée d’Orsay
  • Museum
  • MUTINA
  • New York
  • Product
  • Salone del Mobile Milano
  • Stool
  • SUQQU
  • Swarovski
  • Table
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • THREE
  • Tokyo 2020 Games
  • UNIQLO
  • Watch
  • Water Block

PROFILE

Born in 1967. He worked under Shiro Kuramata and Issey Miyake, and established his own studio, TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA INC. in 2000.

Active in the fields of design, architecture and contemporary art, he is highly acclaimed globally.

The “Sakura Torch” for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the glass bench exhibited at Musée d'Orsay called “Water Block,” the crystal prism architecture “Rainbow Church,” the natural crystal chair “VENUS,” and the glass teahouse “KOU-AN” are some of the many masterpieces announced.

Many of his works are chosen as part of permanent collections in world renowned museums, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Musée National d'Art Moderne and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).

He has won many international awards including Design Miami Designer of the Year and Milano Design Award.

He was selected by Newsweek magazine as one of the 100 Most Respected Japanese in the World.

MASTERPIECES

2001

Chairs created out of natural structure

Paper chair 'Honey-pop' (2001) is a chair that changes shape from plane to three-dimensional. By spreading open a 1 cm layer of 120 layers of thin paper, a honeycomb structure is born, and only when a person sits on it, the shape is fixed and the work is completed. 'PANE chair' (2006) is made like fiberous structure of plants, creating a structure with thin fibers of 1mm intertwining. During the production process, a block made of fibers is placed in a paper duct and put in oven as if baking a bread and by adding heat, the form of chair is shape memorized and completed. Chair made of natural crystals 'VENUS - Natural crystal chair' (2008) is a work that is transformed into a chair by growing natural crystals in a water tank to create crystalline structure.

2002

Glass projects

Has announced starting with glass bench 'Water Block' (2002), 'Transparent Japanese House '(2002), 'Chair that disappears in the rain' (2002), 'Waterfall' (2005 − 2006), 'KOU-AN – Glass Tea House' (2011), 'Water Block − PRISM' (2017). Glass bench 'Water Block' has been exhibited at Musée d'Orsay in Paris since 2011.

2011 −

Musée d' Orsay, Paris

At Musée d' Orsay in Paris, participated in renewal project of the Impressionists Gallery. Together with works of representative Impressionists, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 10 'Water Block', glass benches, are permanently displayed. They blend in with light painted by the Impressionists painters, and create the space where the beautiful dialogue starts between history and present.

2008 −

Crystallized Project

Natural crystal chair 'VENUS − Natural crystal chair' (2008) is a work in which in a water tank, natural crystals are grown to form crystalline structures and transformed into a chair. One music piece creates one painting. With crystal paintings, 'Swan Lake', 'Destiny' and 'Moonlight', music is played during the growth process of crystals and is completed when forms of crystals are changed with the vibrations of sound. 'ROSE' is a sculpture crystallizing colour pigments of rose, expressing the energy of life.

2010・2013

Rainbow Church

Architecture created using more than 500 crystal prisms, the 'Rainbow Church ', focuses on human sense of light perception, and is a work that is completed when a person experiences light. It is an architecture that expresses light itself, filling the space with rainbow colors as light is dispersed by prisms.

2011 −

Glass Tea House − KOU-AN

The concept of “Glass Tea House − KOU-AN” was presented at the Glasstress 2011, the collateral event of the 54th La Biennale di Venezia. In 2015, the teahouse was first unveiled at the stage of Seiryu-den which is in a precinct of Tendai Sect Shoren-in, Kyoto. Japanese concept of nature, which perceive energies, is embedded in the culture of tea ceremony. “Glass Tea House - KOU-AN” is not merely a modernized tea house, but an art project that traces the origin of Japanese culture. This glass-made architecture of light does not have a single tatami, scroll nor flower that are supposed to be provided in traditional tea house. Instead, the floor is dressed with sparkle reminiscent of water ripples, and reflections of sunlight within a prism project a rainbow. Integrated with nature and released from materialistic concept, this architecture of light illuminates poetic scenes.

1997・2010
Snow
2000
Tokujin Yoshioka Design
2000
TōFU / Yamagiwa
2001
Honey-pop
2001
THINK ZONE / MORI building
2002
Water Block
2002
Transparent Japanese House
2002
Chair that disappears in the rain
2004
Souffle / Maison Hermès
2005
MEDIASKIN / au design project KDDI
2005 − 2006
Waterfall
2006
The Gate − Tokujin Yoshioka x Lexus
2006
PANE chair
2007
Tornado / Design Miami
2007
Rainbow chair
2007
Tear Drop / Yamagiwa
2008
Swarovski Ginza
2008
VENUS − Natural crystal chair
2008
Crystallized Painting / Destiny / Moonlight / Unfinished
2008
Eternal / Swarovski Crystal Palace
2009
Moon Fragment / Cartier
2009
Lake of Shimmer / Basel World / Swarovski
2010
X-RAY / KDDI iida
2010
Stellar / Swarovski Crystal Palace
2010・2013
Rainbow Church
2011・2015・2018・2019
Glass Tea House − KOU-AN
2011
The Impressionist Gallery renewal project / Musée d'Orsay
2013
Crystallized Painting - Swan Lake / Spider's Thread / Rose
2013
Spider's Thread
2013
ROSE
2013
Wings of Sparkle / Basel World / Swarovski
2014
Cartier Time Art − Mechanic of Passion / Power Station of Art
2017
Spectrum
2017
Water Block − PRISM
2017
S.F chair
2019
Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Torch
2020
Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relay Celebration Cauldron
2020
Crystal of Light / Tokyo Metro Ginza Station Public Art
2022
STAR / TOKYO MIDTOWN YAESU

EXHIBITION

1998 − 2000
SSEY MIYAKE Making Things / Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Ace Gallery NY, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
2002
Tokujin Yoshioka Honey-pop, MDS/G
2005 − 2006
Tokujin Yoshioka x Lexus / Museum of Permanente
2005
Stardust / Swarovski Crystal Palace / Milano Design Week
2007
Tornado / Design Miami / Designer of the year 2007
2007
Tokujin x Moroso / Milano Design Week
2008
Second Nature / 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT
2009
Story of... Memories of Cartier Creations / Tokyo National Museum Hyokeikan
2010
Sensing Nature / Mori Art Museum
2011
Tokujin Yoshioka : Waterfall / Sharman Contemporary Art Foundation
2011
KOU-AN Glass Tea House / The 54th La Biennale di Venezia - Glasstress 2011
2011 − 2012・2014
Cartier Time Art / Bellerive Museum、Artscience Museum、Power Station of Art
2012
TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA 2012 CREATOR OF THE YEAR / Maison & Objet
2013
TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA_Crystallize / Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
2014
La Biennale di Venezia - The 14th International Architecture Exhibition 2014
2015
Make Yourself Comfortable / Chatsworth House
2015
TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA_TORNADO / Saga Prefectural Art Museum
2015 − 2017
KOU-AN Glass Tea House / Shogunzuka Seiryu-den, Kyoto
2016
Water Block - Golden Brass / Kinkaku-ji Temple, Kyoto
2017
TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA_SPECTRUM / Shiseido Gallery
2017
TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA x LG : S.F / Milano Design Week
2017
TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA Glass Project / 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT
2018 − 2019
TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA_Glass Tea House − KOU-AN / Saga Prefectural Art Museum
2019 − 2022
TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA_Glass Tea House − KOU-AN / The National Art Center, Tokyo