Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese industrial manufacturer whose brand statement is ‘A SUTAINABLE FUTURE — New Value Through Technology —’, has been the designated operator of Nagai Park in Higashi-Sumiyoshi Ward, Osaka, since 2021. The park is the setting for Futurotextiles 7, an exhibition of artworks made from next-generation, sustainable textile technologies due to run until July 31, 2025. Co-hosting the initiative are Yanmar and lille3000, a non-profit cultural organization from Lille, France.

We spoke with Yotaro Tsuchiya and Mina Kaido from Yanmar’s Design Division, who are responsible for planning and operating this exhibition, as well as Caroline David, lille3000’s Artistic Advisor and Exhibition Curator, about everything from how this co-hosting came to being, the message embedded in the exhibition to its highlights.

Textiles as Art, Science and Signal

We may not often be conscious of them, but textiles are woven into daily life, if you’ll excuse the wordplay. This obviously applies to clothing, but also includes lifestyle products such as furniture, and in recent years, textiles have also been gaining significant attention in the medical field.

Lille3000, a non-profit organization from Lille in northern France, develops pioneering exhibitions worldwide, themed around the allure of ever-evolving textiles. It has presented Futurotextiles ever since its establishment in 2006. This exhibition spotlights diverse aspects of textiles across genres like art, fashion, design, and technology—ranging from the latest technological aspects such as biosourcing and upcycling to traditional craftsmanship like embroidery and tapestry.

To date, Futurotextiles has held over 20 exhibitions in more than 35 locations globally. Yanmar’s sponsorship of the latest iteration, Fututrotextiles 7, in conjunction with the EXPO 2025 OSAKA, KANSAI, JAPAN follows installations in Shanghai (2010), Milan (2015), and Dubai (2021). Exploring the trends set to revolutionize the worlds of art, design and fashion, it has drawn a growing swell of people keen to understand the role of textiles in their lives since its April opening.

The exhibition goes deep into textiles’ contribution to a sustainable society. Some displays reinterpret the relationship between raw materials and art, design and fashion; others stand on the edge of innovation and creativity. The content is consistently captivating and invites us to contemplate and celebrate textiles’ history, evolution and future. The vision is of a world where beauty and sustainability harmonize.

Having said that, you might wonder why Yanmar decided to collaborate on a textile exhibition in the first place. This will become immediately clear once you see the exhibition, however. Futurotextiles doesn’t solely focus on the glamorous aspects of fashion. Instead, its themes explore the materials themselves, environmentally conscious initiatives like upcycling and recycling, and tradition and innovation. These themes have a very strong affinity with what Yanmar does as a business.

Futurotextile 7 is being held at Flower Greenery Nature Information Center in Nagai Park, where sunlight helps create the feeling of a natural setting indoors.

The exhibition is structured around three themes. The first (above) is Nature & Biosourcing, with exhibits including sportswear, artificial fibers and bio-materials, all of which are created by fusing natural materials like linen (flax) and nettle with the latest textile technologies.

From the Upcycling & Recycling theme section: You’ll see a collection of works where items like stuffed animals, forgotten beach balls, fabric remnants and industrial parts have been ingeniously transformed into fashion pieces.

The third section, themed Know-How, Traditions & Innovations presents works that bridge traditional handicrafts like tapestry, lace, and embroidery to the future. Pictured is a costume crafted using traditional embroidery techniques, which Beyoncé wore on her world tour.

The Art of Utility

How did this collaboration between Yanmar and lille3000 come to fruition? We asked Yotaro Tsuchiya and Mina Kaido from Yanmar’s Design Division about the story behind it and the vision for a sustainable future that Yanmar and Futurotextiles share.

Tsuchiya: The founder of lille3000 visited Nagai Park, which we manage and operate. He was looking for a place that could be used as a satellite venue to promote ‘France’ in one of the surrounding areas, in conjunction with the EXPO 2025 OSAKA, KANSAI, JAPAN. While this park is the second largest in Osaka in terms of scale, a major characteristic is that it’s deeply integrated into the local community, with local people often coming for walks or jogs.

Compared to other commercial facilities and art museums in Osaka, it’s a very people-centric place. Also, the fact that art and sustainability are among Nagai Park’s core concepts resonated strongly with him.

Kaido: For us at Yanmar, planning an exhibition like this was a new endeavor. We believe that by designing not only the product aesthetics of the industrial goods Yanmar develops, manufactures, and sells, but also the branding aspects like the spaces used to present them, we can effectively convey the premium feel and added value of the products to the world.

From that viewpoint, our role also involves the challenge of showcasing the inherent added value of the exhibited works. So, we could foresee a scenario where we could collaborate effectively towards organizing an exhibition like Futurotextiles.

Tsuchiya: One of our design philosophies at Yanmar is not to focus on superficial aesthetics, but to truly discern and design based on the inherent essence of Yanmar’s products. In designing the exhibition space for Futurotextiles we followed the exact same principle. While some of the more decorative aspects were conceived by our French counterparts, we focused on organizing essential elements like visitor flow and the methods of displaying the artworks, approaching the project by cherishing these foundational design aspects.

Kaido: Caroline (David), the curator of the exhibition, strongly believes that while many immediately associate fabric with fashion, it actually permeates every aspect of our lives. This includes furniture, and she points out how deeply fibers are integrated into fields like medicine, which is so close to our bodies. This perspective has a very strong affinity with Yanmar’s way of working and our core beliefs. To be part of people’s lives and contribute to making them richer. We identified with the idea that this underlying principle — contributing to enriching lives — doesn’t change, whether it’s through the fabrics in this exhibition or the Yanmar products we handle daily.

Tsuchiya: As Kaido-san mentioned, our brand statement, ‘A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE — New Value Through Technology —,’ naturally involves technological development for its realization. However, it’s also true that the path to achieving it will be challenging without fundamental changes in people’s mindsets and behavior. We hope that by having people experience this exhibition in the form of art, we can have a positive impact on the sensibilities of our visitors.”

When Art and Machinery Speak the Same Language

In terms of preparations for the exhibition, Caroline David, who serves as Artistic Advisor and Exhibition Curator at lille3000, played a major role for the French side. We asked her about the background leading to the collaboration with Yanmar, their shared commitment to the environment, and the themes of the exhibition.

Caroline David: “lille3000 was established following the city of Lille’s selection as the European Capital of Culture in 2004. As Lille was once a region where the textile industry flourished, we launched the Futurotextiles exhibition series aimed at exploring textiles, and now hold exhibitions around the world that fuse textiles, design, and art.

When we started out, the exhibition was an unprecedented endeavor. While traditional initiatives addressed textiles from an industrial or economic standpoint, we took on the challenge of an innovative theme deeply connected to the fundamental question of what textiles truly are. How it would be perceived was entirely uncertain. As it turned out, the first edition was a great success, but I don’t think anyone imagined at the time that we would be able to continue our activities up to the present day.

We have held over 35 exhibitions in more than 30 locations worldwide to date. Our connection with World Expos is also strong, having previously held exhibitions in Shanghai, Milan, and Dubai.

From an outsider’s perspective, it might seem like there are few commonalities between us and Yanmar. Our activities primarily revolve around textiles, spanning genres like fashion, art, and design. On the other hand, Yanmar is a leading Japanese company whose core business is agricultural and construction machinery.

However, even though our core industries differ, we both permeate people’s lives, and precisely for that reason, I believe we can play a role in encouraging behavioral change and building a richer, more sustainable society. That’s where the synergy between us emerged, leading to the organization of this current exhibition.

The exhibition is structured around three themes. First is Nature & Biosourcing. For a long time, synthetic fibers were dominant, but now natural fibers such as linen, hemp, and nettle are poised for a true comeback. We are also focusing on eco-friendly materials derived from renewable resources like coffee grounds, and natural resources such as banana trees. The spotlight is on works that fuse these with cutting-edge technology. You can also see pieces made using environmentally-friendly artificial fibers and bio-materials.

The second is Upcycling & Recycling. The textile industry is considered one of the most environmentally impactful industries globally. However, in recent years, sustainable initiatives based on the “use & reuse” concept, such as textile recycling and repurposing, have been spreading throughout the fashion industry. Here, we introduce attempts to regenerate large quantities of discarded old textiles, especially those containing synthetic fibers, into new, valuable materials.

Finally, there’s Know-How, Traditions & Innovations. This section features traditional craft techniques such as tapestry, delicate lace, translucent tulle, luxurious silk, and sophisticated embroidery. You’ll see exhibits that skillfully connect the past and the future by combining these traditions with unexpected new technologies and materials.

A Partnership with Lasting Potential

“The reaction from the visitors has been greater than we imagined,” says Caroline David, genuinely delighted by the continuous stream of positive feedback since the April opening. Nagai Park, a lush urban park themed around “food, sports, art, and learning,” likely contributes to the exhibition’s success, as it directly embodies her desire for “more people to enjoy art, not just in special places like museums.”

The “future affluence” that Yanmar, with its slogan ‘A Sustainable Future — New Value Through Technology —’, aims to achieve is a society where people and nature coexist. The company has emphasized its belief in human potential to overcome challenges since its founding, and this aligns closely with the ethos of Fututrotextiles 7.

When asked about future prospect, David enthuses: “We hope to use Futurotextiles 7 as a springboard to continue our collaboration with Yanmar.

This sentiment resonates with that of Kaido and Tsuchiya. Their sights are already set on the next phase.

Yotaro Tsuchiya
Design Department, Brand Division, Yanmar Holdings Co. He has been involved in tractor design for Yanmar since his days at KEN OKUYAMA DESIGN, which is led by world-renowned industrial designer Kiyoyuki Okuyama, and transferred to Yanmar in 2019. He started his career as an industrial designer and is now involved in all areas of Yanmar’s design work.

Mina Kaido
Design Department, Brand Division, Yanmar Holdings Co. She plays an important role in communication with lille3000 to realize “Futurotextiles 7”. She joined Yanmar in 2016 after working as a designer in various fields such as graphics and packaging. He is involved in a wide range of Yanmar’s design work, including products, graphics, and spaces.