Carrying Forward the Keiji Nagai Collection and Bringing It Into the City

Urbanix Co., Ltd. is involved, as a supporter and co-organizer, in efforts to carry the design collection left by modern-design collector Keiji Nagai into the future. Between May and July 2026, two related events were held in Fukuoka City.

Background: Carrying Forward the Keiji Nagai Collection

In 2024, Keiji Nagai, well known as a modern-design collector, passed away. To carry his vast design collection into the future, succession efforts are being led by the Product Design Research Institute (a general incorporated association; Representative Director: Atsuki Yamada) and K&DESIGN COLLECTION, and URBANIX has been continuously involved in this initiative.

Our CEO, Tomokazu Iwabuchi, is also involved in the Institute's Design Center Preparatory Office. From the perspective of connecting design, as a regional asset, to community development, we supported and co-organized these two events. Further details of the project are described on our CEO's page.

"Chair Expedition" — A City-Wide Design Exhibition

May 15 – 31, 2026

Organized by Professor Yoshihito Ogata's laboratory at Kyushu University's Faculty of Design and the Product Design Research Institute, this city-wide exhibition focused on "masterpiece chairs" drawn from Keiji Nagai's vast collection. Centered on Fukuoka's Tenjin area, with ONE FUKUOKA BLDG. as the main venue, a single chair was displayed at each of twenty locations across the city — including CASSINA-IXC, Rokujizo Tsutaya Books, Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine and the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum — offering a "Chair Expedition" experience of "searching," "encountering" and "discovering," with the city itself as the stage. Admission was free, and a stamp-rally program encouraging visitors to tour each venue was also held.

URBANIX joined Fukuoka City as a supporting organization for the exhibition, backing an effort to raise the city's appeal by circulating a design asset throughout the whole town rather than confining it to a single exhibition venue.

Carrying Forward the Keiji Nagai Collection — Crowdfunding Closing Event —

July 27, 2026

As the culmination of the "Keiji Nagai Collection Succession Crowdfunding" campaign, held from May 14 to July 31, 2026, a closing event took place at KBC Cinema (Nanotsu, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City) and the KBC staff cafeteria. URBANIX served as a co-organizer of the event, together with K&DESIGN COLLECTION and KBC UNIE.

The talk session at the closing event held at KBC Cinema

The first half took the form of a screening and talk show at KBC Cinema: an interview video, "The Value of the Keiji Nagai Collection," featuring Kokuyo Co., Ltd. President and CEO Hidekuni Kuroda, was screened, followed by a two-part talk session.

Part One | Can Design Become a Regional Culture?

Kenichiro Ide (Representative, rythemdesign) ／ Kazunaga Sakashita (Organizer, Design Weekend Fukuoka) ／ Atsuki Yamada (Representative Director, Product Design Research Institute) ／ Sohei Miki (Co-organizer, K&DESIGN COLLECTION)

Part Two | From the Dawn of Japanese Modern Design to the Present and Future

Naoki Terada (Professor, Musashino Art University) ／ Koichi Futatsumata (Representative, Case-Real)

The second half was a reception at the KBC staff cafeteria, "Carrying Forward Design Culture: Reflections from the Keiji Nagai Collection," where speakers and attendees discussed the collection's future together.

URBANIX's Perspective

As an urban design firm, URBANIX is working in locations across Japan to visualize dormant regional assets through data and spatial design, and to convert them into value for the city.

Carrying forward the Keiji Nagai Collection speaks to a theme at the heart of community development: how to hand a design asset built by one individual to the next generation as a "cultural asset of the region."

Through our support of, and co-organizing role in, these two events, URBANIX will continue to support the connection between design and community development in Fukuoka.