LONDON — London’s Design Museum in May will host the first major retrospective on Japanese designer Nigo, current artistic director of Kenzo.
The exhibition “Nigo: From Japan With Love,” which is set to run between May 1 and Oct. 4, will feature over 700 objects. Some 600 of them will be sourced from the designer’s personal archive, charting his expansive career spanning the past three decades.
“I am truly honored for my first retrospective exhibition to be held at the Design Museum in London, and I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to present my work in such an iconic space,” said Nigo, who is considered by many the godfather of urban streetwear.
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Born Tomoaki Nagao, he launched A Bathing Ape (also known as Bape) in 1993, sold the company to Hong Kong’s I.T in 2011 for about $2.8 million, and left the brand in 2013.
Among his enduring Bape designs is his full-zip “shark” hoodie, which first came out in 2004 and recently enjoyed a resurgence in interest.
A serial fashion entrepreneur, Nigo partnered with Pharrell Williams, men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton, to launch the streetwear brands Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream, worked for Uniqlo as creative director for its UT range, and also introduced a brand called Human Made.
Human Made has unfurled collaborations with the likes of Adidas Originals, Kaws, Levi’s and Verdy.
Last year the brand made history with its initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, becoming the first streetwear brand to go public. Williams is both the second-largest shareholder and a key creative adviser to the brand.
Highlights in the exhibition will include a recreation of Nigo’s teenage bedroom, rare and early-era Bape designs, ceramics hand-thrown by the designer himself, and a life-size glass tea house made for the exhibition, to name a few.
Tim Marlow, director and chief executive officer of the Design Museum, said Nigo’s contributions to the fashion industry are highly significant, yet under-explored.
“He has helped redesign the landscape of brand collaboration, as well as continuing to blur boundaries between streetwear and luxury,” he added.
