The moon rock brought back by Apollo 11 was exhibited at the American Pavilion of the 1970 Osaka World Expo, causing a great sensation. For the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, it has been announced that a Mars rock collected by Japan’s Antarctic Observation Team will be exhibited. In the space rocket upcycling project “&SPACE PROJECT,” which has been selected for the Co-Design Challenge, a space tank bench made of a discarded rocket tank will also be provided for the venue. The project is progressing in the eastern part of Hokkaido, which is growing as the hub of the space-related industry.

Since 1985, Taiki Town in Hokkaido has been pursuing the goal of creating a “space town.” In 2008, it entered into a cooperative agreement with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). By attracting the space industry and conducting numerous aerospace experiments, including rocket launches, at its rocket launch site, and with the full-scale operation of the commercial spaceport, Hokkaido Spaceport (HOSPO), in the spring of 2021, the efforts of this small town of approximately 5,300 people, whose primary industry is dairy farming, have attracted significant attention.

Kazunori Toshinai, Representative of 11 Inc., which operates the interior design shop “BASE9” with a cafe attached, located in Kushiro City about a 2-hour and 30-minute drive from Taiki Town, is the central figure in the production of the space tank bench. He was approached about four years ago by ADDReC (headquartered in Tokyo), a company that has connections to space industry-related companies in Taiki Town and designs architectural spaces, with a proposal for a project using space rocket scrap. The space industry thriving in Taiki Town was geographically close, but Toshinai felt it’s distant as his main business is interior design. However, he decided to collaborate on the project after hearing about the utilization of space rocket scrap. He thought at that time, “Although we do not possess technology related to rocket development, which is what many people associate with the space industry, we could perhaps contribute something by leveraging our area of expertise, and it would be interesting to launch a unique project.”

Starting with Toshinai, the members of the project increased. Gathering nine companies, including local manufacturing companies and those with creators inside and outside of Hokkaido, the &SPACE PROJECT was launched. This project aims to upcycle space rocket scraps and develop products that allow people to feel closer to space. Toshinai explained, “I think the simplest reason everyone joined was because they found it interesting. Anticipating that more partner companies will join in the future, we named the project ‘&SPACE.’” While Toshinai is leading the creation of space furniture such as benches, chairs, tables, and shelves, a member of the project suggested participating in the Co-Design Challenge.