A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE presents “‘The Possibilities of a Single Piece of Cloth’ TYPE-XVII JAXA project by A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE” at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT Gallery 3

A special exhibition, “‘The Possibilities of a Single Piece of Cloth’ TYPE-XVII JAXA project by A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE”, will be held at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT Gallery 3 from Wednesday, October 21 through Thursday, November 19.

This exhibition bridges the separate domains of science and design to reconsider “a single piece of cloth,” the concept at the core of ISSEY MIYAKE’s approach to making clothes, and to explore new possibilities for the future of clothing. It aims to become a place where, together with visitors, we consider new possibilities for clothing that respond to the environment and society.

Exhibition Concept
Exploring the relationship between the body and clothing. Capturing the Earth from space. The collaboration between A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) began where these two perspectives, existing on different scales, intersect. This exhibition presents a series of initiatives that developed from observation images captured by the climate change observation satellite “SHIKISAI” (GCOM-C).

Through the development and use of satellites, JAXA continuously observes the Earth’s environment. “SHIKISAI” is a satellite that captures the state and changes of observation targets such as oceans, snow and ice, and vegetation, using multiple wavelengths ranging from the near-ultraviolet to the thermal infrared, including ranges invisible to the human eye. The data obtained provides a foundation for considering issues such as climate change, while also recording the beautiful, ever-changing face of the Earth.

The starting point for this exhibition is an observation image of Antarctica captured by “SHIKISAI.” A vast ice sheet with an average thickness of about 2 km, the cracks running through it, and the deep blue sea peeking through the gaps. What at first appears to be an abstract pattern is in fact a cross-section of the Earth, created by ice and sea.

Based on this observation image, A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE created a pair of jeans using advanced jacquard weaving. Depicting the forms that appeared in Antarctica through gradations of shading created by the density of the weave structure gives the jeans their unique texture and expression.

The exhibition also presents fabric prototypes developed with the future of clothing in mind, inspired by these observation images. Assuming humans will expand their sphere of activity to environments such as space and the polar regions in the years to come, what kind of function, structure, and richness can be created within limited materials and constraints? Viewing constraints as conditions for creativity, we explored new fabrics.

Jeans born from the observation of Antarctica, and prototypes that extended this thinking further toward the clothing of the future. These two initiatives aim to find out what possibilities the perspective of observing the Earth brings to the relationship between the body and clothing. Simultaneously, they aim to open up the concept of “a single piece of cloth,” which runs through ISSEY MIYAKE’s approach to making things, to new environments and conditions.

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