‘From Japan with Love’: NIGO’s universe arrives at the Design Museum

From the backstreets of Harajuku to Paris, the creative’s impact has redefined the way we consume fashion, music and design.

For the first time, NIGO‘s universe is being showcased in a global retrospective. On 1 May 2026, the Design Museum in London will open the exhibition “NIGO: From Japan with Love”, dedicated to one of the great architects of hype culture and pioneers in building bridges between streetwear and luxury.

To talk about NIGO is to talk about brands that have defined generations: Nike, Louis Vuitton, Nintendo, Pepsi… Seemingly disparate universes that share the artist’s curatorial vision as a common thread. In 2021, he became KENZO‘s first Japanese artistic director since its founder, Kenzo Takada, but his revolution began much earlier, in 1990s Tokyo, with A Bathing Ape (BAPE), a brand that redefined the concept of exclusivity through limited editions, collectable packaging and strategic collaborations. In 2003, he expanded the cultural map alongside Pharrell Williams with Billionaire Boys Club, and in 2010 he launched HUMAN MADE, where he consolidated his creative mantra: ‘The future is in the past.’

The exhibition brings together more than 700 objects—600 of them from his personal archive—and traces a journey that connects his adolescence in 1980s Tokyo with his current global influence. One of the most intimate and special moments of the exhibition is the recreation of his childhood bedroom: a space where posters from the film Big (translated into Japanese), Donald Duck toys, Felix the Cat and Star Wars figures coexisted alongside magazines, records and ephemera symbolising the cultural crossover between Japan and the United States. His obsession with Americana led him to lay the foundations of his creative DNA and define his personal style, and he has now personally selected more than 300 key designs that shaped his imagination.

The ‘Evolution’ selection takes us back to 1993, when NIGO co-founded the NOWHERE store with Jun Takashi in the epicentre of the Ura-Hara movement in Harajuku. That same year, BAPE was born. Sweatshirts, T-shirts, nylon jackets and camouflage—now cult items—are showcased alongside some of the most influential marketing experiments in recent history.

Music has always been central to his career. In addition to founding the BAPE Sounds label, he created the group Teiyaki Boyz and dressed American hip-hop icons when streetwear had not yet been legitimised by luxury. In “The NIGO Effect”, the exhibition explores his consolidation as a creative and sought-after partner. Highlights include his collaborations with Louis Vuitton—including the “Millionaire”, “Bolivia” and “Havana” sunglasses, designed alongside Marc Jacobs and Pharrell—and his work with Virgil Abloh. Another of his most recent milestones is also on display: the royal blue cape suit created for Kid Cudi for the 2022 MET Gala.

His current collaboration with Nike takes centre stage, as limited edition T-shirts, varsity jackets featuring the NIGO x Nike swoosh and stamped APE-Force 2024 trainers confirm that his influence continues to set the tone for the present.

The last section reveals a more introspective side. Trained as a tea ceremony master and dedicated to ceramics in his Tokyo studio, NIGO explores Japanese craftsmanship as a field of contemporary experimentation. On display are 25 pieces of ceramics made by him and a life-size glass tea house designed in collaboration with NOT A HOTEL. A radical reinterpretation of tradition that sums up his philosophy: preserving heritage in order to project it into the future.