03/09/2025
Japanese designer Yasuhiro Suzuki crafted a striking boat shaped like a giant zipper, creating the illusion of unzipping the water as it moves. Named the “Zip-Fastener Ship,” this 9-meter-long vessel was part of the Opening the River art installation at DESIGNART Tokyo 2020.
Designed with a chrome-colored body, bridge, and puller, the boat mimics the look of a real zipper. As it glides along the Sumida River, the wake it leaves behind gives the visual impression of the water being unzipped—symbolically linking both sides of the river. Suzuki conceived the idea after noticing, from an airplane window, that the wake of a ship cutting through Tokyo Bay resembled a zipper pulling apart the sea.
