About
SOTANAKA is a Tokyo-based material research and design studio, established in 2025 by independent designer Soichiro Tanaka.
Our practice is motivated by a desire to reimagine and transform relationships with others, with society, with the environment, and with our evolving selves. Understanding that our world is fundamentally constituted through such connections, we approach each project as an opportunity to explore these essential bonds and create new possibilities for how we might relate to one another and to the world we inhabit.
We view our design as independent platforms that spark infinite dialogues. Selection of materials, form, and manufacturing processes are inherently linguistic. By drawing foundational vocabulary from personal reflection, philosophy, and interdisciplinary experiments, we decode and rebuild the contexts around us.
Upcoming exhibitions
2026Moro Craft, Tochigi, Japan
2026Ataw, Fukui, Japan
2026Tortoise General Store, Los Angeles, US
Past exhibitions
2025Design Live, Tokyo Midtown, Tokyo, JapanGroup
2025Structure, Cont Gallery, Nagoya, JapanGroup
2025Let a Colored Paper Swim in the Clouds, Moro Craft, Tochigi, JapanSolo
2025Liminal Objects, Information, Tokyo, JapanSolo
2024Design Contemporaries, Isetan Shinjuku, Tokyo, JapanGroup
2023Vnsh, Designart Tokyo, Tokyo, JapanSolo
2021Purism, Designart Tokyo, Tokyo, JapanGroup
2020Transfer, Transparency, Tata Book Shop & Gallery, Tokyo, JapanSolo
Commercialized & comissioned
2025MO Lamp for Pedal & Senza
2021ORI Console for Roche Bobois Paris
Awards
2024Kokuyo Design Award 2024 Merit and Audience Awards winner for Memento
2023Designart Tokyo Under 30 winner for Vnsh
2021Designart Tokyo Under 30 winner for Less Than Instrument (with Kentaro Takagi)
2021Lexus Design Award shortlisted for Less Than Instrument
2020Lexus Design Award shortlisted for PE Pottery
2019Roche Bobois Award 2019 winner for ORI Console
Education
2016 - 2020Musashino Art University, Department of Industrial, Interior and Craft Design