50 designers, founders, and builders from around the world — three days in Shibuya. Framer sponsored the inaugural Tokyo Design Forum, and every session felt less like a talk and more like a living, co-authored piece of work.
or MIYASHITA PARK + TRUNK(HOTEL), Shibuya, Tokyo
Framer as Sponsor
Sponsored
Framer was honored to sponsor the inaugural Tokyo Design Forum at TRUNK(HOTEL) Shibuya. Brian Benitez started DMing designers four months before the event — no track record, just conviction. That conviction turned into one of the most concentrated rooms of design thinking I’ve been in.
A concentrated room of design thinking
Framer was honored to sponsor the inaugural Tokyo Design Forum at TRUNK(HOTEL) Shibuya, Feb 16–18. Brian Benitez started DMing designers four months before the event — no track record, just conviction. Ben Huffman, Pietro Schirano, Ryo Lu, Soleio, Brian Lovin all said yes.
That conviction turned into one of the most concentrated rooms of design thinking I’ve been in. Huge respect to Brian and the entire TDF team for pulling this off.
From Welcome Night to TRUNK HOTEL
Day 1 opened with a Welcome Night at or MIYASHITA PARK — a nightclub-style venue in Shibuya where speakers and attendees got to know each other over drinks before the main program began. From Day 2, the conference moved to TRUNK HOTEL’s private conference room. Framer had a sponsor booth at the back and logo banner next to the stage.
The sessions were far more than just talks. Speakers and audience co-authored each presentation in real time, with Q&A woven in. Every session felt like a finished work.
For Framer, the alignment was clear. The conversation about where design tools go in the age of agents was everywhere. We were exactly where we needed to be.
Session highlights
Drew Wilson traced the history of interface design to argue that the design-engineering gap should be eliminated. Gabriel Valdivia spoke about practice and flow in the generative AI era. Effy Zhang showed a second brain with long-term memory via MCP. Ryo Lu described “Glass,” where agent actions are visible and interruptible, closing with: “Build to think, not think to build.”
Pietro Schirano demoed multiple designs generated on canvas and output as React apps. Ben Huffman shared how AI is increasing earning potential for Contra users while final quality remains a human decision. Brian Lovin distilled principles from 150+ prototypes: readability, verification, compounding, collaboration, adaptation. Yo! Podcast reflected on design communities, and Soleio framed the “geometry of luck.”
What will you build tomorrow?
Brian closed the event with a simple question to the room: “What will you build tomorrow?” On a personal note, the energy of TDF was so infectious that I finally shipped a pending personal project during those three days: a Framer Japanese Translation Chrome Extension, built with Claude Code. GTM is about building momentum, relationships, and trust. Inspired by TDF, I look forward to doing more to grow Framer in Japan.
Gallery
