“tsugu minä perhonen” at Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design Until December 22; minä perhonen 30th Anniversary Exhibition

The exhibition “tsugu minä perhonen,” devoted to the fashion and textile brand minä perhonen, is on view at the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design (Toyama City) until Tuesday, December 22. This touring exhibition explores the activities of the brand, which marked its 30th anniversary in 2025, through the word “tsugu.” It began at the Setagaya Art Museum (Tokyo) in November 2025 and traveled to Matsumoto and Kumamoto, with Toyama as the fourth venue. In addition to valuable original drawings and textiles, it presents videos of production at embroidery, weaving and printing factories and more in six areas.

Why “tsugu” now? The 30th anniversary and a “brand that lasts 100 years”

minä perhonen traces its origins to “minä,” founded in 1995 by designer Akira Minagawa (born 1967). Under the concept of “special everyday clothes” that can be worn for many years regardless of trends, it has continued to make things starting from original fabrics while building relationships with textile-producing regions across Japan. Its activities have expanded from fashion to interiors, tableware, food, lodging and other areas of daily life.

Minagawa started the brand hoping it would become “a brand that lasts at least 100 years.” In 2021 the baton of leadership passed to designer Keiko Tanaka, who had long worked alongside him. According to the organizers’ announcement for the opening of the Tokyo venue (November 21, 2025), Minagawa said he arrived at the word “tsugu” while delving into the idea of “continuity” expressed in the 2019 “tsuzuku” exhibition. Tanaka said the exhibition had come to express a range of feelings, with “tsugu” meaning not only “to carry on” but also, in its other senses, “to pour” and “to tell.”

Highlights: making things, traced through six areas

According to the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design’s press materials, the exhibition is organized in six areas: “chorus,” “score,” “humming,” “ensemble,” “voice” and “remix.”

• chorus: The brand has designed more than 1,000 textile patterns. About 180 of these textiles are displayed, showing how one pattern gives rise to the next and how a single design gradually changes form and is handed down over time. From the start, the brand has consistently made clothes beginning with the fabric rather than the form.

• score: For 21 patterns selected from the archive, this area introduces how each design came about and how a variety of items are born from each textile.

• humming: A re-creation of the Tokyo studio where the desks of Akira Minagawa and Keiko Tanaka stand side by side. Items that color daily life and the art materials used in day-to-day work convey the atmosphere of a place of creation.

• ensemble: The three techniques at the heart of textile-making, embroidery, printing and weaving, are carried out by factories in Japan that have built relationships of trust with the brand. This area introduces how artisans interpret patterns hand-drawn by the designers and give them form through dialogue and trial and error.

• voice: Minagawa and Tanaka talk about the meaning of an exhibition titled “tsugu” and about the brand’s past and future. Interviews with collaborators and friends also explore the meaning of “tsugu.”

• remix: The brand has carried out repairs and alterations since its founding. Developing this further, the exhibition held an open-call project in which clothes that had come to need repair over time were remade with new designs added. It shows a way of remaking in which a treasured garment becomes a one-of-a-kind piece.

The museum’s materials feature textiles such as “surplus” (2003–04 a/w) and “tarte” (2007–08 a/w). “alive” (2011–12 a/w) is introduced with its original drawing, and “forest parade” (2005 s/s) with its original drawing and embroidery parts. The exhibition’s official website notes that the exhibits may differ in part from venue to venue.

Tickets, prices and discounts

Admission is 1,500 yen for adults (1,150 yen for groups of 20 or more) and 750 yen for university students (570 yen for groups), and free for high school students and younger. Sales of advance adult tickets (1,150 yen) ended on October 9. Re-entry is not allowed, but visitors to the special exhibition can also see the collection exhibition on the same day.

There is also a “Repeater Discount,” under which three used stubs of paid tickets for the museum’s special exhibitions can be exchanged for one complimentary ticket. With the “Bear Discount,” inspired by Atsuhiko Misawa’s bear sculptures, visitors who bring or wear bear goods or items with a bear design pay 1,150 yen (adults) or 570 yen (university students). Neither can be combined with other discounts.

Crowds, the museum shop and access

Opening hours are 9:30–18:00 (last entry 17:30), and the museum is closed every Wednesday and on Tuesday, November 24. The exhibition’s museum shop is open 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:00 during the run), and timed numbered tickets may be issued depending on crowding. Details of the numbered tickets will be posted on the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design’s official website and the TAD Museum Shop’s Instagram.

The venue is Galleries 2, 3 and 4 on the 2nd floor of the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design. It is about a 15-minute walk from the North Exit of Toyama Station; by bus, take the “Toyama Red Cross Hospital via Prefectural Museum of Art” service from Stop 1 and get off at “Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design,” right by the museum. It takes about 3 minutes by taxi or car.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the exhibition travel next?

According to the exhibition’s official website, after Toyama it is scheduled to be held at the Utsunomiya Museum of Art (Sunday, April 25 – Sunday, June 27, 2027) and the Shizuoka City Museum of Art (fiscal 2027). Further venues are also planned, with details to be announced once decided. It has so far been held at the Setagaya Art Museum (Saturday, November 22, 2025 – Sunday, February 1, 2026) and the Matsumoto City Museum of Art (Thursday, April 16 – Sunday, June 7, 2026). It then traveled to the Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto (Saturday, July 4 – Sunday, September 6, 2026) before coming to Toyama.

Is there a catalogue?

The official catalogue is a modified B5 hardcover with 284 pages and costs 4,400 yen (tax included). It was edited and written by minä perhonen, with art direction by Kaoru Kasai (Sun-Ad). It includes an interview with Shinro Ohtake (conducted by Akira Minagawa and Keiko Tanaka) and an essay by Zenpachi Hashimoto, director of the Setagaya Art Museum. The regular edition is also sold at general bookstores.

What programs can visitors take part in?

The open-lab workshop “Pon-pon Stamp” is held until Monday, December 28. Other programs are also planned during the run.

Editor’s perspective

Rather than simply displaying finished clothes, the exhibition shows the process from pattern to fabric and from fabric to garment, including the work of factory artisans and a re-creation of the studio. “ensemble” builds the process of making into the exhibition, and “remix” the process of continuing to use.

In Hokuriku, “Design Chronicle” is on view at the National Crafts Museum in Kanazawa until January 11, 2027. Design and craft exhibitions are gathered in [Autumn/Winter 2026] Design, Craft and Architecture Exhibitions.

Overview

Name: tsugu minä perhonen
Dates: Saturday, October 10 – Tuesday, December 22, 2026
Hours: 9:30–18:00 (last entry 17:30)
Closed: Wednesdays, Tuesday, November 24
Venue: Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design, 2nd floor, Galleries 2, 3 and 4
Address: 3-20 Kibacho, Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture
Admission: Adults 1,500 yen, university students 750 yen, high school students and younger free (group rates available)
Organizers: Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design, The Kitanippon Shimbun, Tulip Television, The Asahi Shimbun
Toyama venue sponsor: MAE
Graphic design: Kaoru Kasai + SunAd
Exhibition design: Mariko Abe
Official website: https://tad-toyama.jp/exhibition-event/20731
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design seen from Fugan Canal Kansui Park, May 2018 (photo: Kikucha, CC BY-SA 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design (August 14, 2026) and the tsugu minä perhonen PR office (November 21, 2025) and information on the official website.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team