I went to see it! minä perhonen / Akira Minagawa 'tsuzuku' Exhibition Catalog, Goods & Highlights at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

★Update on Sun, 1/19
Same-day tickets can also be purchased via Seven Ticket,Lawson Ticket,Ticket Pia,Asa-Chike (Asahi Ticket). Due to the broadcast on E-Tele's 'Sunday Art Museum,' the venue seems to be quite crowded. For those planning to visit, please use these services so you can spend your time appreciating the art instead of waiting in line!

I had so many thoughts that I split the article into two parts.
But it still ended up being long... Part 1 is here.

Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Kiyosumi-shirakawa, Tokyo)
Dates: November 16, 2019 (Sat) – February 16, 2020 (Sun)
Tour: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art June 27, 2020 (Sat) – August 16, 2020 (Sun)

★Cross-talk events between Mr. Minagawa and various celebrities, as well as events where you can view the exhibition while wearing minä clothing, are planned. Some sessions are still open for registration, so please check them out!

★I will be conducting guided tours on TABICA.

★This one ended at the end of the year, but it was a wonderful exhibition.

★A lovely book has also been released. It is a huge favorite of mine.

◎What about the exhibition catalog & goods?

I think the special goods shop is likely receiving just as much intense attention as the exhibition itself.
There are two shops.

The one that seems to be the main shop is accessible to anyone, even without a ticket.It is located past the museum entrance, in the space behind the ticket counter.

I took this photo right after closing, so the shop is already closed, but it is quite crowded during opening hours. If you want to buy goods, please allow yourself plenty of time. You might even want to shop first.

The lineup of enchanting goods includes bags, T-shirts, postcards, masking tape, Moleskine notebooks, Faber-Castell sets, pin badges, the exhibition catalog, and more. The prices vary, and everything is so lovely that shopping is a joy.

In the bag section, there is also the 'piece' series, where textile combinations are one-of-a-kind. These are quite rare! They are usually only sold at select shops and aren't always available.

However, there were several lined up at the venue, so I think it's easy to compare them and choose your favorite (though it can also be easy to get lost in indecision...). There are also 'tsuzuku' goods designed by Kaoru Kasai.

Among them, my personal recommendations would be the postcards and pin badges.
I don't think the postcards have been sold at minä shops in the past, and the printing is elaborate. You can enjoy displaying them in your room by putting them in frames.
I was happy to see the fish and bird motifs, which were released in the early days of the brand, brought back as pin badges. Because of minä's pin badges and badges made from textile scraps, I have started wearing badges on my clothes more often. They look great on simple outfits.

The other one is after you leave the exhibition venue.It can only be used by those who have a ticket.
The exhibition catalog is sold here. For those who have completely fallen for minä, I strongly recommend purchasing the catalog here.
Because you can choose an exhibition catalog with an exclusive cover design for visitors!!!!
And because you can purchase a special bag along with it!!!!

By the way, the regular edition cover design is the navy 'tambourine' with white embroidery. This is also very lovely, and it will be sold nationwide starting next month.

Right after the exhibition started when I visited, I don't think the limited designs had been revealed on the special website yet... so I only found out after arriving at the venue, and I was quite torn about which textile to choose...

The special bag can only be purchased by those who order the catalog at this shop. It is from the 'piece' series, which is fun for its effective use of fabric scraps and the beauty of their combinations. You don't choose from finished products; it is delivered as a set with the catalog.
The size of the bag is tailored to the catalog, smaller than A4, and I believe it is about the size of a toast bag or the tote bag for planner goods sold by Hobonichi.
If you enjoy the surprise of what design will arrive, please apply. By the way, I applied. Since it's my first 'piece' item, I'm looking forward to seeing which textile I'll be connected with.

◎ naomin_0506's Highlights

There are just so many highlights, it's overwhelming... so I want to say everything is a highlight. I really want you to savor every single detail, right down to the smallest parts.

As for what the venue is like, the content on Hobonichi is very well summarized and fun to read, so please take a look at that.

A venue layout that feels like it shouldn't exist but does
Most exhibitions have different entrances and exits, are on different floors, or often don't allow re-entry. If you think, 'I want to see it again!', you usually have to trace the route backward.
This exhibition, true to its title, allows you to loop infinitely until you are satisfied. It's on one floor, and you can go around through each exhibition room and eventually return to the entrance.

Photography is allowed in some parts of the exhibition rooms.
You can focus on looking closely during your first lap, take photos of your favorites on the next lap, and then enjoy it one last time on a third lap.
...I mean, that just shows how much I love it, right?

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A space to enjoy drawings
I really love the pictures, writing, and handwritten text that Mr. Minagawa creates.

Currently, Mr. Minagawa's illustrations are featured in the Sunday morning edition of the Asahi Shimbun, and I've been clipping them for a long time. In the past, he also worked on illustrations for serialized novels in the Nikkei Shimbun.
I've even thought about how nice it would be if they were all collected into a single book for sale... and there is a space where these are all lined up.
Due to copyright reasons, photography is not allowed here. So, I stared at them so intently I thought I might burn holes in them. It was pure bliss.

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The comfort of the chairs and sofas
Unfortunately, photography is not allowed here either, but there are many chairs and sofas upholstered in minä textiles lined up in an exhibition room where you can enjoy video works. Please, by all means, try sitting on any of them.
I was moved by how comfortable one very large sofa was. It was a moment where I felt a sense of richness and thought, 'What a wonderful experience this is.'

◎ Summary

From the exhibits at the venue, you can see the vast accumulation of manual work not just by the designer himself, but by many people involved with minä.

For example, the diagrams of the needlework performed by embroidery machines.
It is true that machines do the embroidery, but the needlework is drawn by human hands, stitch by stitch, like a single continuous line, before being handed over to the machine.

For example, the printed fabrics.
Mixing various dyes to create exquisite colors is also done by human hands. Moving the plates, which are like stencils for the print patterns, little by little, spreading the prepared dye evenly and all at once to print on the fabric, is also done by human hands. Checking whether the finished fabric is printed beautifully is also done by human hands.

It is a very, very obvious thing, but I was able to truly feel and appreciate the fact that 'Oh, the minä clothes I am wearing right now were designed by someone, made by someone who created the fabric, and sewn and tailored by someone, and only then did they reach the store and come to me,' with a tangible sense of reality.

Once you know things that can be savored in this way, you want to cherish them forever. I am reminded once again that shopping for such things is a 'declaration of one's own intentions,' 'support for the creator,' and an 'irreplaceable experience.'

I want to continue to cherish the world of minä perhonen, which enriches my daily life so much, so that it may continue on into the future.

・・・・・・・・・・

By the way, an interview with Mr. Minagawa is featured in this morning's Asahi Shimbun Saturday supplement. You can also read it on the web.

And tomorrow at 9:00 AM, Mr. Minagawa will be on E-Tele's 'Sunday Art Museum.' The rebroadcast is on Sunday, January 12th, at 8:00 PM.