Chanel’s la Galerie du 19M Tokyo Balances Tradition and Innovation
A new exhibition, presented by Chanel and creative hub le19M, is now open in Tokyo, unravelling a timeless dialogue between Japanese and French craft
Picture a tea bowl. Sitting in stillness, soft light filtering through nearby wood lattices, is a vessel shaped by the hands of a respected 18th-generation Kyoto ceramic master. Yet, its heritage-steeped form is layered with a contemporary edge: the clay is punctured with scattered holes, through which burst three-dimensional embellishments in vivid tones and metallic reflections — sculptural, textural, dynamic — created by Chanel embroiderers in Paris.
This hybrid tea bowl — balancing past and future, tradition and innovation, expertise and imagination, Japan and France — perfectly embodies the essence of la Galerie du 19M Tokyo, an expansive new exhibition presented by luxury maison Chanel, in collaboration with its creative hub le19M, now open in the Mori Arts Center Gallery in Tokyo. le19M was established by Chanel in 2021 and is home to 11 Maisons d’art specialists — from embroidery to millinery — forming a creative ecosystem of 700 expert artisans.
Conceptual and playful, the exhibition unravels a timeless dialogue between Japan and France, through the evolving craft landscapes of both cultures, with the involvement of a roll call of contemporary creatives, from curators, designers and architects to generations-old artisans. Alongside the embroidered tea bowl are paper lanterns shaped by wooden hat moulds; tatami mats edged in Chanel-style tweed; wood screens with embroidered organza instead of washi paper; and origami-esque paper walls folded by Parisian pleaters.
The exhibition marks the latest chapter in Chanel’s ever-deepening relationship with Japan, since the house staged its first fashion show in Tokyo in 1978. It unfolds in three chapters, opening with Le Festival — an immersive installation dreamt up by Paris-based Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects as a ‘cabinet of curiosities’. Here, a dense constellation of around 1,300 objects from le19M’s Maisons d’art fills a light-flooded space — hats, textiles, tools, materials — hanging from the ceiling and piled on tables, layered with workshop soundtracks.
Next is the main protagonist: Beyond our Horizons, a sweeping exhibition in which nearly 30 creatives from Japan and France explore new possibilities in craft, curated by film director Momoko Ando, editor Yoichi Nishio, designer Shinichiro Ogata, curator Kayo Tokuda and Aska Yamashita, artistic director of embroidery house Atelier Montex.
‘It’s about craft and excellence,’ Yamashita tells Design Anthology. ‘I hope people will enjoy walking by all the different crafts and collaborations, feeling joy and playfulness.’
Inspired by the idea of a ‘village of makers’, the spatial scenography, fluidly brought to life by rising designer Shunya Hashizume, begins with a wall of white lanterns by Kojima Shoten, a 220-year-old Kyoto company, using hat shapes from specialist Paris makers Maison Michel. Next, a series of machiya townhouse-inspired spaces are filled further with artisan collaborations, including noren curtains of banana leaf basho fabric by Akiko Ishigaki and crafted expanses of decorative karakami paper layered with Chanel-esque Lemarié-designed camellias, by innovative Kyoto-based paper artist Ko Kado of Kamisoe and woodblock creator Yasuyuki Kanazawa of Kanazawa Moku Seisakusho. Nearby is a scene-stealing sukiya tearoom-style space, where tatami is fringed with Chanel-style tweed, while shoji-style screens are fitted with embroidered white organza and intricate metallic cupboard handles made by Chanel button makers Desrues. And, of course, the embroidered tea bowl.
The final chapter is an exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of embroidery and weaving house Maison Lesage, culminating in Aristide Barraud’s dreamy Murmuration installation, an ever-evolving, travelling symphony of hand-stitched starlings.
And collectively? The imprint of the entire exhibition is a harmonised celebration of the transmission of craft — from generation to generation, between past and future, in Japan, France and beyond. As curator Tokuda says, ‘Craft is something that is part of our daily lives as human beings. I hope this exhibition gives us a chance to rethink what that means today.’
The exhibition is open until 20 October.
Text by Danielle Demetriou
Images by Clarisse Aïn & Satoshi Nagare
