MUJI will be holding a special exhibition, "Mingu (Mingu) Exhibition," in Gallery 3 of 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT in Roppongi, Tokyo, from December 14th to January 14th, 2019, in conjunction with the "Mingei – Another Kind of Art" exhibition currently being held at the museum.


"Mingu" is a word coined by Shibusawa Keizo in the early Showa period. It refers to everyday tools that have supported the daily lives of ordinary people over a long period of time. Tools that are driven by necessity and are the direct expression of wisdom and ingenuity. Their streamlined forms, passed down from hand to hand, evoke the original landscape of Japanese life, coexisting with nature. Since then, the structure of industry has changed dramatically, new materials have been developed one after another, and tools have become increasingly diverse as production technology and distribution have evolved.

At the same time, MUJI was born to reexamine the origins of what a product should be, from the perspective of the consumer who will use it. But does its appearance qualify as a modern-day folk tool? This exhibition will explore the meaning of this question through the display of both folk tools and MUJI.