青幻舎 SEIGENSHA Art Publishing

In 1995, when Akira Minagawa founded what would become minä perhonen, he aspired for something that would last “at least a hundred years.” Three decades later, the brand has grown into one that reaches beyond the realm of fashion to enrich people’s lives and lifestyles.

The exhibition and book marking minä perhonen’s 2020 twenty-fifth anniversary were themed on tsuzuku, a word with many meanings including to continue, to circulate, and to connect. In this new commemorative volume published to coincide with the 2025 thirtieth-anniversary exhibition, the brand’s message is distilled into the word tsugu, another multivalent term meaning—among other things—to join, to follow, to pass on.

Partial table of contents
chorus: a visual genealogy of the brand as traced through 220 fabric patterns selected from roughly 1,000 developed over thirty years
score: text, design drawings and specs, and designer commentaries giving insight into the creation and evolution of twenty-one particularly memorable patterns
humming: views of minä perhonen’s Tokyo studio, where tireless deliberation and prototyping go into the shaping of new creations
ensemble: visits with the artisans at partnering embroidery, weaving, and fabric-printing workshops who work as one with the minä perhonen team
remix: a look at a project in which the brand team refreshed minä perhonen clothes treasured for years by their owners
voice: interviews with brand designers Akira Minagawa and Keiko Tanaka plus conversations on the future of artisanship between the pair and seven individuals they admire, including artist Shinro Ohtake, ceramist Jissei Omine, Satoru Inoue of the Inoue Brothers design studio, and Miyako Watanabe of Ippodo Tea

The minä perhonen fashion brand was begun by designer Akira Minagawa in 1995 under the name minä. It is especially noted for its practice of manufacturing its own fabrics and, in the process, supporting its factory partners in the textile industry. Keiko Tanaka took over from Minagawa as brand CEO in 2021.