MEDUM to Exhibit at Milan Design Week 2026: Installation "Light is Shadow" Themed on the Dialogue Between Light and Shadow
MEDUM, the in-house design studio of quantum Inc., will exhibit their new installation "Light is Shadow" at Milan Design Week 2026. The exhibition explores the nuanced interplay of light and shadow using innovative electroluminescence prototypes, offering a fresh perspective on light's role in modern life and well-being.
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quantum Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kazuhiko Kawashita, hereinafter "quantum"), its in-house design studio MEDUM, will exhibit at Fuorisalone of Milan Design Week 2026, the world's largest design event, held in Milan, Italy, from April 20th to 26th, 2026.
Exhibition Theme: Light is Shadow
Following their 2023 participation, this second exhibition for the studio at Milan Design Week will feature a new installation centered on lighting prototypes, under the theme "Light is Shadow."
MEDUM values an approach that designs the relationships connecting technology, materials, and people. For this exhibition, in a contemporary era flooded with excessive light, we focused on the "in-between" state of light and shadow, where darkness is not shunned. Through a rich worldview that treats them equally, we propose an alternative way of experiencing light.
Exhibition Content:
The material chosen is electroluminescence (EL), which is also used in familiar products like signage. This sheet material, which emits a soft light, will be subjected to an extremely simple process: "cutting."
The production process, while embodying the rationality of utilizing the material without waste, resulted in a series of diverse lighting expressions from a single sheet.
From the inspiration for the material to the design of the production method, the prototypes, personally crafted by the studio, form an installation that quietly stimulates the viewer's imagination in the darkness.
Please look forward to an experience created by MEDUM that allows you to contemplate the dialogue between "light and shadow," away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Furthermore, at the same venue, an archive will be displayed showcasing MEDUM's representative works to date, along with their production processes.
Exhibition Overview:
Title: Light is Shadow
Dates: April 20 (Mon) - 25 (Sat) 10:00-19:00, April 26 (Sun) 10:00-16:00
Press Preview: April 19 (Sun) 15:00-18:00
Venue: Via Tortona 12, Tortona District, Milan, Italy
Webpage: https://medum.jp/research/light-is-shadow
*For those wishing for an interview in Milan, please contact the MEDUM PR representative listed at the end.*
Concept: About "Light is Shadow"
In contemporary society, under the values of safety, efficiency, and hygiene, "shadow" has been distanced from people's lives.
However, in a world illuminated everywhere, day and night, perhaps we are losing a bit of the balance between "light" and "shadow." While this endless brightness makes life convenient, it also has negative aspects, such as disrupting physical and mental rhythms and leading to excessive energy consumption.
Shadow was not originally just an inconvenience. It holds value reversed from brightness: the tranquility that calms the mind and body, and the subtlety that stimulates imagination for the unseen. As the great writer Junichiro Tanizaki, known for his essay "In Praise of Shadows" which discussed traditional Japanese aesthetics, argued, we thought it was time to pause and re-examine this sensibility of appreciating darkness.
This exhibition was born from an approach of "designing light and shadow as equal values."
The material chosen is "electroluminescence (EL)," commonly used in everyday products. We focused on its characteristic of being "freely cut" and reinterpreted it from a new design perspective. Even common technology, when viewed differently, can be reborn into a presence with entirely new value. This holds the potential of creativity at the intersection of technology and design.
Creating shapes by making slits in a single sheet. This minimal processing method is rational as a product: it utilizes the material fully and becomes flat for transportation. This gently glowing, low-power material quietly questions the alternative ways of light in our energy-overloaded era.
Here, please forget the glare of everyday life and immerse yourself in the richness of "shadow" for a moment.
MEDUM Principal - Shintaro Kadota:
After handling product design for a wide range of fields, from one-of-a-kind furniture to mass-produced laptop PCs, at domestic design firms and foreign PC manufacturers, he joined quantum. As the head of the in-house design studio MEDUM, he leads product development across various fields such as industrial, graphic, and UI/UX design. His past products have received numerous awards, including iF Design Gold, Cannes Lions Gold, and GOOD DESIGN, and have been selected for museum collections in European countries, including Germany's Pinakothek der Moderne, garnering high praise both domestically and internationally. He served as a judge for Product Design at the D&AD Awards (UK) 2025.
About MEDUM (https://medum.jp/):
MEDUM is a design studio that gives form to essential value and generates product innovation. By creating optimal relationships between people and the things that surround them, we design products, improve quality of life, and aim to create a better society.
The team, composed of members who drive all product development, whether hardware or software, through the power of design, handles everything from problem discovery to prototyping, product design, and brand building.
At their first exhibition at Milan Design Week in 2023, they presented five lighting prototypes titled "5lights." One of these was commercialized by the Italian company ALESSI as "Tsumiki" and was selected for the ADI Design Index 2025, signifying a nomination for the Compasso d'Oro award.
Download the press kit here:
https://quantum-ss.box.com/s/xyyste6wk51nzu7fztckiovtyapkacwh
*If you plan to publish an article, please notify the PR contact below.*
Exhibition Theme: Light is Shadow
Following their 2023 participation, this second exhibition for the studio at Milan Design Week will feature a new installation centered on lighting prototypes, under the theme "Light is Shadow."
MEDUM values an approach that designs the relationships connecting technology, materials, and people. For this exhibition, in a contemporary era flooded with excessive light, we focused on the "in-between" state of light and shadow, where darkness is not shunned. Through a rich worldview that treats them equally, we propose an alternative way of experiencing light.
Exhibition Content:
The material chosen is electroluminescence (EL), which is also used in familiar products like signage. This sheet material, which emits a soft light, will be subjected to an extremely simple process: "cutting."
The production process, while embodying the rationality of utilizing the material without waste, resulted in a series of diverse lighting expressions from a single sheet.
From the inspiration for the material to the design of the production method, the prototypes, personally crafted by the studio, form an installation that quietly stimulates the viewer's imagination in the darkness.
Please look forward to an experience created by MEDUM that allows you to contemplate the dialogue between "light and shadow," away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Furthermore, at the same venue, an archive will be displayed showcasing MEDUM's representative works to date, along with their production processes.
Exhibition Overview:
Title: Light is Shadow
Dates: April 20 (Mon) - 25 (Sat) 10:00-19:00, April 26 (Sun) 10:00-16:00
Press Preview: April 19 (Sun) 15:00-18:00
Venue: Via Tortona 12, Tortona District, Milan, Italy
Webpage: https://medum.jp/research/light-is-shadow
*For those wishing for an interview in Milan, please contact the MEDUM PR representative listed at the end.*
Concept: About "Light is Shadow"
In contemporary society, under the values of safety, efficiency, and hygiene, "shadow" has been distanced from people's lives.
However, in a world illuminated everywhere, day and night, perhaps we are losing a bit of the balance between "light" and "shadow." While this endless brightness makes life convenient, it also has negative aspects, such as disrupting physical and mental rhythms and leading to excessive energy consumption.
Shadow was not originally just an inconvenience. It holds value reversed from brightness: the tranquility that calms the mind and body, and the subtlety that stimulates imagination for the unseen. As the great writer Junichiro Tanizaki, known for his essay "In Praise of Shadows" which discussed traditional Japanese aesthetics, argued, we thought it was time to pause and re-examine this sensibility of appreciating darkness.
This exhibition was born from an approach of "designing light and shadow as equal values."
The material chosen is "electroluminescence (EL)," commonly used in everyday products. We focused on its characteristic of being "freely cut" and reinterpreted it from a new design perspective. Even common technology, when viewed differently, can be reborn into a presence with entirely new value. This holds the potential of creativity at the intersection of technology and design.
Creating shapes by making slits in a single sheet. This minimal processing method is rational as a product: it utilizes the material fully and becomes flat for transportation. This gently glowing, low-power material quietly questions the alternative ways of light in our energy-overloaded era.
Here, please forget the glare of everyday life and immerse yourself in the richness of "shadow" for a moment.
MEDUM Principal - Shintaro Kadota:
After handling product design for a wide range of fields, from one-of-a-kind furniture to mass-produced laptop PCs, at domestic design firms and foreign PC manufacturers, he joined quantum. As the head of the in-house design studio MEDUM, he leads product development across various fields such as industrial, graphic, and UI/UX design. His past products have received numerous awards, including iF Design Gold, Cannes Lions Gold, and GOOD DESIGN, and have been selected for museum collections in European countries, including Germany's Pinakothek der Moderne, garnering high praise both domestically and internationally. He served as a judge for Product Design at the D&AD Awards (UK) 2025.
About MEDUM (https://medum.jp/):
MEDUM is a design studio that gives form to essential value and generates product innovation. By creating optimal relationships between people and the things that surround them, we design products, improve quality of life, and aim to create a better society.
The team, composed of members who drive all product development, whether hardware or software, through the power of design, handles everything from problem discovery to prototyping, product design, and brand building.
At their first exhibition at Milan Design Week in 2023, they presented five lighting prototypes titled "5lights." One of these was commercialized by the Italian company ALESSI as "Tsumiki" and was selected for the ADI Design Index 2025, signifying a nomination for the Compasso d'Oro award.
Download the press kit here:
https://quantum-ss.box.com/s/xyyste6wk51nzu7fztckiovtyapkacwh
*If you plan to publish an article, please notify the PR contact below.*