Pentagram designs a major new exhibition for Japanese clothing brand, UNIQLO

Pentagram has created the visual identity for a new landmark exhibition for UNIQLO that takes a closer look at the Japanese clothing brand's LifeWear concept: simple, high-quality, everyday clothing designed to be both practical and beautiful.

Written By: Andy Mallalieu

19 September 2019

Currently on show at Somerset House in London, The Art and Science of LifeWear: New Form Follows Function is an immersive show that considers the clothing line from three different perspectives: art, science and craftsmanship.

Pentagram developed the entire experience, including the exhibition identity, graphics and advertising, video content, exhibition design, installations, interactive experiments and sound design. The London agency also created the visual identity and graphics for the show as well as marketing and advertising materials.

Inspired by UNIQLO’s FW19 season styling theme 'new form follows function', both the identity and the exhibition design make use of modernist grid systems and includes new iconography for each of UNIQLO’s key products and technologies, as well as many of the areas and experiments in the show.

UNIQLO LifeWear at Somerset House, designed by Pentagram

There are many highlights, one of which is a large-scale installation designed to demonstrate the lightweight qualities of UNIQLO’s AIRism fabric. If you get the chance to visit, you'll enter a six metre-long area filled with hundreds of floating strips of fabric that you can touch as you walk through the space.

The craftsmanship behind UNIQLO clothes, meanwhile, is showcased in five open wooden "tent" structures which are covered with different fabrics – these feature UNIQLO’s signature jeans, its knits and its shirts.

There's even a multi-sensory mirrored room which is filled with 50 hanging lamps made from UNIQLO socks in 50 different colours. The lamps pulse on and off in time to a unique music composition created by Pentagram, creating an atmospheric space which shows the Japanese brand's more playful side.

Sound plays a key part in the exhibition, with each area having its own composition. Unconventional percussive sounds, originating from industrial noises and machinery, are used to tell the story of UNIQLO LifeWear.

The Art and Science of LifeWear: New Form Follows Function is free to attend and runs concurrently with the London Design Festival and London Fashion Week until 22 September.