we+ redefines craft through material collaboration and digital fabrication

Tokyo-based design studio we+, founded by Toshiya Hayashi and Hokuto Ando, approaches materials as collaborators rather than resources. Their practice rethinks craft as an active, embodied process of understanding materials through making, embracing uncertainty and unpredictability. Key projects include SO-Colored (microalgae pigments), REMAINS (landfill waste composites), Refoam (polystyrene furniture), SEAWEED LUMINOUS (seaweed and Japanese craft), and WAFT (mist installations). The studio explores the dialogue between traditional craftsmanship and digital fabrication, arguing that fully automated digital processes exclude the body and cannot be considered craft. Instead, they seek collaboration between digital technologies and manual processes, allowing materials to retain their inherent irregularities. Their work focuses on overlooked materials—living organisms, industrial by-products, atmospheric conditions—and treats waste as a vernacular material of contemporary Tokyo. The studio emphasizes embodied knowledge gained through making, viewing unexpected errors as opportunities for beauty. Projects like 'Less, Light, Local' and 'Refoam' reframe discarded materials as design resources. we+ proposes craft as a critical tool for contemporary design, evolving beyond historical models to address current material and environmental systems.