RE:TWIST: Circular Loop Project Gashapon

Ten industrial designers from Taiwan and Japan use the Lucky Cat as a cultural symbol to craft unique capsule toys from ocean-recycled Styrofoam. Through single-material design and narrative reinterpretation, the project replaces disposable plastics and reimagines capsule toys as a new medium for sustainability and ocean awareness. More than just an international design collaboration, it offers a forward-looking solution for the future of capsule toy systems.

The cannelé is a familiar dessert, and also the shape of a stool previously designed by re-ing. It is our steadfast belief to bring sustainability into everyday life.

Open the top half of the cannelé, and a whimsical Maneki-neko (lucky cat) is constantly gazing at you, eager to hold a coin in its mouth and stand guard over your good fortune.

The cannelé's slanted cut resembles a lion's mane. As you open it, the lucky cat also brings you the courage of a lion.

Neco is a lucky cat gashapon figurine made from recycled ocean waste, perfectly combining the traditional 'beckoning' gesture of fortune with the shape of ocean buoys, conveying the warm belief of 'turning bad luck into good luck'. Each Neco comes from discarded ocean plastic that, after reprocessing, returns to people's hands in a light, swaying posture—as if bad luck is gently pushed away and good luck keeps beckoning. Neco embodies the Retwist spirit of 'not just recycling, but revival'—waste that once floated at sea has now become a messenger of hope. When we turn the gashapon and watch it gently sway, it seems to tell us that 'forgotten things can always find their value again in new ways'.

The "Japanese Haniwa Cat NYA-NIWA" is a good luck charm that combines ancient haniwa (terracotta clay figures) and cats. In contemporary Japanese society, where the word "sustainability" is often merely consumed without leading to essential action, we designed this piece with the hope that the feeling of finding something "cute" (kawaii) could inspire action on environmental issues.

My theme began with tracing the origins of how the 'maneki-neko' (beckoning cat) came to be. I discovered an anecdote about a person who was guided by a cat to avoid sudden rain, which I used as the cultural motif's source.

Having lived with cats in the past, I focused on the natural gestures cats show in daily life. Particularly, the grooming gesture of washing their face looked remarkably like beckoning, leading me to the inspiration that this behavior might be the origin of the 'beckoning' gesture. I designed a maneki-neko that captures this natural action.

Cats are the most familiar and beloved creatures worldwide. Through this project, I hope that people attracted to the cat's natural charm and gestures will also develop interest in marine plastic pollution and environmental issues.

'Coin Cat' is a capsule toy that combines daily habits with a sustainable philosophy, inspired by our unconscious tendency to sort and stack coins on our desks, forming quiet little towers. Our design team has transformed this simple yet therapeutic act into a minimalist and adorable maneki-neko (beckoning cat): its body is composed of coin-shaped layers, as if silently reaching out to beckon good fortune for you.

You can place a favorite coin on its face to give it an expression, or let it stand atop your own tower of change. 

In Japanese, the word "umineko" (海猫) actually means seagull. I only first realized this recently while listening again to the song "Boku ga Shinou to Omotta no wa" (I Also Thought of Ending It All), written by Hiromu Akita and sung by Mika Nakashima. Despite the song's heavy and somber atmosphere, a completely different image popped into my head: a cat swimming in the sea, or a fantastical creature with the head of a cat and the body of a fish. While such a scene might be a little pitiful if it happened in real life, I thought it would become rather humorous and cute if turned into a capsule toy. This work is the result of giving form to that imagination.

BUBBLE MOLD CAT is an innovative design that overturns the conventional concept of the maneki-neko (beckoning cat). Its organic, bubble-like form splits in two, revealing the shape of a maneki-neko carved out as negative space within. It functions as a "master mold," allowing you to infinitely replicate beckoning cats by injecting materials like clay, cookie dough, or soap.

The design inspiration comes from a fusion of sea foam and gachapon capsules. By using plastic material recycled from ocean waste, it challenges the traditional one-way cycle of production, consumption, and disposal. The core of this work lies in "designing the process of creation." It's not merely about making an object with recycled materials, but about designing the act of making itself to be sustainable, thereby realizing a true circular economy.

Mute Cat: Silence is Golden is a Lucky Cat that neither speaks, waves, nor follows. It has no tail, no face, no beckoning paw. Rendered with the sculptural language of automotive design, its simplified geometric form holds both tension and calm.

Flip it over, and you'll find a stamp engraved with: "Do Not Tail (Do Not Tell) / Silence is Golden." This is not a slogan, but a quiet protest. In an age overwhelmed by noise, opinions, and blurred boundaries, the cat asserts itself through stillness. No tail—no following. No mouth—no telling. Silence—a conscious stance of resistance and preservation.

Taking a standard Japanese maneki-neko (beckoning cat) as the motif, I modeled the form as if its details had melted away.

The design evokes the feeling of a piece of glass that has drifted ashore, its sharp corners smoothed by the sea to become sea glass.

Because the maneki-neko is such a famous symbol, people can still recognize it even with minimal detail. This new form also allows it to harmonize beautifully with modern interior spaces.

For this project, we re-envisioned the maneki-neko as a "motif for gaining a tangible sense of what ocean plastic is." We went to a familiar sea within our living area, collected the diverse plastics that had washed ashore, and used them as materials to create a maneki-neko. Every part of the completed 300mm-tall maneki-neko is made from the plastic materials that we happened to find.

We then digitized this original piece and scaled it down for distribution as a gachapon (capsule toy). These gachapon maneki-neko can be described as "Replicas" of the actual washed-up plastic waste that exists in our world and that we experienced firsthand.

Rocky Roll is a homophone of 'eighteen dice'. This funny little chicken transforms into a dice cup with two dice hidden inside! Let you start a passionate Rocky Roll lucky dice game with friends anytime, anywhere!

Owl Pass is a homophone of 'All Pass'. The owl becomes a wise divination item with various lucky fortune sticks hidden in its belly. Give it a shake and see if today's good luck is flying your way!

Traditional lucky coin divination designed as a beckoning cat-shaped fun divination tool. Analyze daily fortune through coin flips, a little lucky charm for playing with friends.

Cute gold ingot that can also cast fortune blocks! 'BaoBao' sounds like 'fortune blocks' - cast your lucky guidance and store lucky items, symbolizing 'rolling wealth and continuous fortune'.