INTO THE STONE Exhibition

Product Design Exploring Japanese Stone

Stone embodies a timescale that vastly exceeds human experience. It bears the marks of geological shifts, weathering, extraction, cutting, and use. Yet, the distinctive character of each stone is often lost when it is classified merely as a generic material.

INTO THE STONE opens with a deceptively simple proposition: to reconsider our perception of stone.

Curated by Naoki Iijima and produced by Matsushita Sangyo Co., Ltd., the exhibition unites three emerging design practices: AATISMO, Daiki Tado, and SUPER RAT. Each offers a distinct perspective on Japanese stone through a unique approach to observation, handling, and interpretation.

The designers made multiple visits to quarries throughout Japan and to a stone-processing facility in Mie. Their intent extended beyond gathering references or choosing finishes; it was an in-depth study of the material itself, including its density, colour, mineral inclusions, fractures, regional distinctions, and the traces left by extraction and craftsmanship.

This investigative process is central to the exhibition. Stone is presented as a medium bearing both geological history and human intervention. The resulting works, including stools, tables, lighting, vessels, and washbasins, occupy the space between furniture, product design, and sculptural study, illustrating the wide-ranging variability found within a material often defined by a single term.

Three Ways of Reading Stone

For AATISMO, founded by Keita Ebidzuka, Daiki Nakamori, and Eriko Masunaga, stone chronicles time and human presence. Their works, including Hoden, Lhatse, and Tikal, explore cutting, reassembly, ritual, and embodied action. Geometric forms are intentionally open to interpretation, while geological strata and tooled surfaces preserve traces of both natural processes and manual intervention.

Daiki Tado offers a distinct approach in FACE / SCALE. His perspective evolved through visits to quarries in Isahaya, Aji, and Inada, where the interplay between craftspeople and stone proved as significant as the material itself. Confronted with stone shaped over millennia, he concentrates on the physical practices of reading, drilling, splitting, and shaping. The resulting works embody the dialogue between geological time and the scale of human labor.

For SUPER RAT, represented by Kazuki Nagasawa, the focus shifts to Japan’s regional stone traditions and the diminishing use of locally quarried stone. In the ISSEKI SERIES, Japanese andesite is transformed through bush-hammering, brush polishing, natural dye from fushi plant galls, and heat treatment. These techniques darken the stone to an almost uniform black, while preserving its texture, porosity, and interaction with light. The series encompasses seating, low tables, lighting, and vessels.

An underlying economic and cultural question also informs the project. Japanese quarries have cultivated highly localized stone cultures over generations, but standardization, imported materials, and price competition have strained these regional resources. INTO THE STONE considers design as a means of reengaging with these issues by encouraging material expertise, experimentation, and renewed appreciation for existing resources.

LOGISTICS, Inada

The exhibition is held at LOGISTICS, a space established within Matsushita Sangyo’s stone warehouse in Inada, Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Inada is one of Japan’s renowned stone-producing regions, lending the exhibition an unusually direct connection to its subject. Matsushita Sangyo operates across stone processing, installation, and maintenance, while the LOGISTICS gallery is designed to share knowledge about stone within the very environment where it is actively worked.

The distinction between gallery and production site is especially pertinent in this context. The exhibition does not separate stone from its origin, craft, or industrial setting. Instead, it situates design within the broader system encompassing quarry, workshop, warehouse, maker, and object.

Ultimately, INTO THE STONE invites its audience to look more closely. In doing so, the notion of “stone” as a singular category dissolves. Each work reveals its own geography, age, texture, colour, and history. The designer is positioned as a reader of these narratives.

INTO THE STONE EXHIBITION

October 5, 2026

LOSISTICS, KASAMA, IBARAKI, JAPAN

BY appointment only.