A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE will release new pieces from its “TYPE-XII Tomokazu Matsuyama project,” continuing its collaboration with contemporary artist Tomokazu Matsuyama. The project combines the label’s design process with Matsuyama’s layered visual language through a single piece of cloth, creating garments that place art directly into daily wear.
AD CAMPAIGNS
The collaboration began when the label created exclusive items for “Tomokazu Matsuyama: FIRST LAST,” the artist’s first major solo exhibition in Tokyo. Azabudai Hills Gallery presented the exhibition in spring 2025. Following the project’s strong reception, A-POC ABLE developed new coats that carry Matsuyama’s artwork through the structure of the fabric.
Kyoto printing gives the base textile vivid color, while a specialized technique applies a triangular pattern across its surface. As the wearer moves, the material forms a three-dimensional texture that changes with the body. The fabric gives Matsuyama’s imagery a physical quality while extending A-POC ABLE’s ongoing research into construction, movement and material.
ISSEY MIYAKE / NEW YORK will present a special exhibition for the project from July 9 to August 31, 2026, in the store and its MADO gallery. The exhibition will feature Matsuyama’s equestrian sculptures, created with the same original 3D-printing technology used for A-POC ABLE mannequins, alongside related paintings.
Vibrant textiles carrying Matsuyama’s reconstructed imagery will hang from the ceiling as an immersive installation. The New York store will also offer exclusive T-shirts featuring prints of seven of the artist’s works on A-POC continuous-knit garments.
Read DSCENE’s Exclusive Interview with Tomokazu Matsuyama
Born in Gifu in 1976, Tomokazu Matsuyama draws on his bicultural experience between Japan and the United States, combining Eastern and Western aesthetics while repositioning traditional icons in a global context. Recent projects include “Midnight Moment” in Times Square in 2026, Bowery murals from 2019 and 2023, and the “Hanao-san” public installation in Tokyo from 2020. His 2025 exhibitions included “Tomokazu Matsuyama: Morning Sun” at the Edward Hopper House Museum, “Liberation Back Home” at the SCAD Museum, and “Tomokazu Matsuyama: FIRST LAST” at Azabudai Hills Gallery.
Matsuyama described the collaboration as a chance to examine how artists and designers from different disciplines create new forms together. He also connected the project to the shared generation of its participants and to the way each period shapes history and tradition through new challenges.
The collection launches in Japan on July 1, 2026, at A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE in Kyoto and ISSEY MIYAKE locations in Ginza and Marunouchi, followed by New York, Paris, London and Milan on July 8. The New York exhibition will take place at 45 Madison Avenue.
