B-OWND connects contemporary craft artists with Japan’s globally acclaimed pop culture to create new artworks. A notable example is the collaboration between ceramic artist Takahiro Koga and manga legend Go Nagai’s Mazinger Z. Their joint work, Hōyōhai: Ultimate Mechanical Deity Form, inspired by Koga’s signature “Hōyōhai” series, was released in a limited edition of 30 pieces. Another project, the exhibition Resonance with the Other: Encounters between Ultraman and Contemporary Craft, featured four contemporary craft artists creating works themed on Ultraman. This initiative intersected Ultraman’s theme of “coexistence with the other” with B-OWND’s exploration of the boundary between “tool or art,” resulting in a philosophical experiment.

Beyond pop culture, B-OWND actively engages in collaborations across music and international art. At the U.S. international art fair SCOPE Miami Beach, B-OWND partnered with performance group TRiECHOES, which fuses koto and EDM. Performers presented a special act wearing Takahiro Koga’s works, garnering over 1 billion total views on social media, with 90% of the audience overseas. Additionally, B-OWND hosted a pop-up exhibition titled Virtual Archaeology: Pop Culture Relics by Hong Kong artist To Kai On (Benny To), marking the first introduction of an overseas artist’s unique worldview within B-OWND.

To deepen the appeal of craftworks beyond “viewing” into “using,” B-OWND emphasizes collaboration with the culture of tea ceremony. Partnering with TeaRoom Inc., a tea culture startup, we co-supervised the development of the portable, modular tea room Tesera Room in Room model. B-OWND. This tea room has been used in “Art Tea Gatherings” featuring craft tea utensils, held at B-OWND Gallery, the Osaka-Kansai Expo, and U.S. art fairs in Miami, among others. These initiatives offer experiences rooted in Japanese culture while enhancing the value of craftworks.

These collaborations form the foundation of B-OWND’s value-creation strategy. Based on a method of combining “historicity × contemporaneity,” we deliberately generate both contextualization and trend-making in the value formation process of art. This strategy has produced tangible results: for instance, the annual transaction volume of works by B-OWND-affiliated artists increased approximately twentyfold within five years of contracting with B-OWND.