KiQ × ICOMA Launch Joint Project to Redesign Living Experiences with Japan-Born Physical AI: Implementing Bodily Intelligence in Office and Public Interiors and Mobility, Advancing Everyday Multimodal Foundation Models

Project Overview

KiQ, a design firm specializing in spatial design that enhances sensory and semantic value beyond functional utility, and ICOMA, a product design studio, have launched a joint co-creation project. Building on KiQ’s 'SHOSA' concept, the collaboration spans art, product, AI, robotics, and spatial experiences to propose new relationships between people and objects, people and technology, and people and environments. Both companies share a philosophy: not to 'make things,' but to 'design experiences.'

As the first phase of this project, three works—'AUN dog,' 'BONSAI arm,' and 'tatamo! SHOSA Edition'—have been co-developed. Rather than treating art appreciation, furniture use, and robotic co-creation as separate experiences, they are reimagined as a single, continuous experience.

BONSAI Arm

BONSAI arm

An attempt to reinterpret 'the practice of engaging with life,' a tradition long cultivated by Japanese culture through bonsai, using robotics. The robot is not a substitute for humans but a creative partner that accompanies the plant as a living being, co-creating the artwork with people. This project proposes expanding technology from a tool for efficiency to a medium for designing relationships.

tatamo! SHOSA Edition

A special model based on ICOMA’s mobility product 'tatamo!', integrating the philosophy and aesthetics of SHOSA. Mobility is redefined not as a mere tool but as an entity that interacts with people within a space and transforms the texture of the environment, proposing a new lifestyle that transcends the boundary between art and product. The act of using it becomes a gesture in itself, expanding living spaces into venues for appreciation and experience.

tatamo! SHOSA Edition

Vision of the Joint Project

By intersecting KiQ’s exploration of SHOSA values and ICOMA’s practice of redefining human-object relationships, the project aims to implement new sensory circuits into daily life. The launch of these two works marks the first step.

Company Statements Akane Kikuchi (KiQ / Artist, Creative Director) 'I believe art is not something to be 'viewed,' but an experience that transforms people’s ways of living. Through this project with ICOMA, the SHOSA worldview expands from artworks to furniture and products, entering a phase where we design life itself. This announcement is the first step.'

Takamitsu Ikoma (ICOMA) 'Product design is not just about making objects beautiful—it is an act of designing relationships between people and objects. In our collaboration with KiQ, we are challenging experience design that transcends the boundary between art and product, incorporating emotions and bodily sensations. We aim to propose to society how everyday actions—using, touching, coexisting—can be renewed.'

Simultaneous Announcement | First Public Viewing at Omotesando's 'The Art of Living' The first three works—'AUN dog,' 'BONSAI arm,' and 'tatamo! SHOSA Edition'—will be unveiled for the first time at Akane Kikuchi’s debut solo exhibition 'The Art of Living,' held at tHE GALLERY OMOTESANDO from July 18 (Sat) to July 26 (Sun), 2026. A gallery talk explaining the project’s intent, featuring Akane Kikuchi and Takamitsu Ikoma, is scheduled during the exhibition.

Event Details Exhibition Title: Akane Kikuchi 'The Art of Living' Produced by KiQ

Dates: July 18 (Sat) – July 26 (Sun), 2026 (Closed Mondays and Tuesdays)

Hours: 12:00–19:00

Venue: tHE GALLERY OMOTESANDO (5-16-13 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo)

Admission: Free

Organizer: KiQ Inc.

Gallery Talk July 19, 2026 (Sun) 15:00–16:30 ▼ Registration https://peatix.com/event/5053640

Guests Akane Kikuchi (KiQ / Artist, Creative Director) Takamitsu Ikoma (ICOMA)

Shogo Wada (BiKoGiKen)

Akane Kikuchi (Artist / Creative Director / Shosa Designer) An artist and CEO of design firm KiQ, exploring relationships between humans, AI, robots, and environments through 'Shosa'—bodily intelligence rooted in Japanese culture. Formerly a geisha. Served as co-creator of the concept and designer of gestures for androids and robots at the signature pavilion 'The Future of Life' at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai. This solo exhibition 'The Art of Living' marks her first as an artist. She actively leads collaborative research with academia and corporations, producing cross-cultural and cross-genre projects from a creative standpoint.