Creators
Tamae Hirokawa is a fashion designer specializing in the creation of seamless knit wear. A graduate of Bunka Fashion College, she went on to be mentored by Issey Miyake. While in charge of knitwear and managing the men’s collection, then moving onto the women’s collection with Miyake she established SOMA DESIGN in 2006, which brought together fashion, graphic, sound and visual design. Concurrently, she launched the design project "SOMARTA” and her "Skin Series," fashion which embodies a second skin using seamless knit technology based on the concept of expanding "the possibilities of clothing on the body.” Skin Series garments incorporate patterns over the whole body comprised of artisan-crafted decorations and embroidery created through a seamless manufacturing process. Hirokawa’s designs have been worn by artists in Japan and abroad, including Lady Gaga and Madonna. In 2017, fashions from SOMARTA's signature "Skin Series" were acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, attracting worldwide attention. In 2014, she held a solo exhibition "Tamae Hirokawa: Genealogy of the Body" at Shibuya Seibu in Tokyo, and in 2021-22 she was invited as the guest artist for the Oita Prefecture arts festival, “in BEPPU" where she designed a dazzling multi- media exhibition on the theme of matsuri or “festival". Tamae Hirokawa Fashion Designer Representing Fukuoka Prefecture, Hakata Ward of Fukuoka City (Kyushu)
Photo by SINYA KEITA (ROLLUPstudio.) ©︎ SOMA DESIGN
Tetsuya Mizuguchi often refers to himself as an “Experience Architect”. Born in 1965 in Hokkaido, Japan his creative work focuses on the multisensory experiences of synesthesia (experiencing once sense through another) and has been actively involved in creating highly unique, enhanced sensory-stimulating experiences in the form of video games and other media. Mizuguchi is the CEO of Enhance Experience Inc. and the Principal at Synesthesia Lab. He is also a specially appointed Project Professor at Keio University's Graduate School of Media Design (KMD). His notable works include "Rez" (2001), "Lumines" (2004), and "Child of Eden" (2010), video games that fuse image, sound, and touch; his VR game “Rez Infinite” a VR extension of “Rez”, was awarded Best VR Game, at The Game Awards (2016). Mizuguchi's work has gone beyond video games with the creation of his “Synesthesia Suit” (2016), and "Synesthesia X1-2.44" (2019), a one of kind full body synesthetic experience device equipped with 44 vibrating actuators wrapping the user in a world of sounds, lights, and vibrations. He is a member of the board of directors of Media Ambition Tokyo (MAT), and a recipient of numerous awards, including the Japan Media Arts Festival Special Prize (2002), Ars Electronica Interactive Honorary Mention (2002), and selected by the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and The Hollywood Reporter for their annual “Digital 50” in 2006. Tetsuya Mizuguchi Experience Architect Representing Shizuoka Prefecture, Hamamatsu
Photo by Michinori Aoki
Reiko Sudo Textile Designer Representing Toyama Prefecture, Oyabe City
Reiko Sudo was born in Ishioka City, Ibaraki Prefecture. After serving as a textile laboratory assistant in the Department of Industrial, Interior, and Craft Design at Musashino Art University, she helped found the textile studio Nuno Corporation, now recognized as one of the world’s most innovative textile companies. As Nuno's Design Director and CEO, she combines Japanese traditions of dyeing and weaving with cutting- edge technology to create a wide range of new textiles. Since 2008, she has been serving as a textile design advisor for Ryohin Keikaku (Mujirushi Ryōhin , or MUJI), the Tsuruoka Textile Industry Cooperative in Yamagata Prefecture, and AZU corporation among others. She has been an active member of MUJI’s Advisory Board since 2016. Sudo’s honors include the prestigious Mainichi Design Award, the Roscoe Award from the Japan Interior Designers Association, and most recently the 11th Enku Grand Prize in 2023. Wielding a vast array of techniques and technologies, Reiko Sudo continues to pursue the possibilities of textile design, focusing not only on natural and synthetic fibers, but also on a variety of materials such as Japanese paper and biodegradable plastic, and working with artisans and dyers from all over Japan. Her works are highlighted in the permanent collections of institutions worldwide including MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
Photo by Masayuki Hayashi
Kinya Tagawa Design Engineer Representing Ishikawa Prefecture, Kanazawa City Kinya Tagawa is a design engineer who runs the international design agency Takram, with studios in Tokyo and London. Born in Tokyo in 1976, he holds an MA in Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) from the Royal College of Art. Following graduation, he worked at Leading Edge Design Corp. as a design engineer. Tagawa is well versed in a wide range of technology and design fields from spatial design and interactive artworks to software and hardware. Prominent projects include “tagtype”, a Japanese character input device which is now part of the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; presentation design for Toyota's e-Palette Concept (2018); direction of the Japanese government's regional economic analysis system V-RESAS since 2020; and assistant CXO at Mercari (2018-2020). In 2018, Tagawa was involved as a core member in the creation and drafting of the "Design Management Declaration” of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Japan Patent Office. He has received numerous awards, including the Japan Good Design Gold Prize, the James Dyson Design Award and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art, UK, as well as author of "Innovation Skill Sets" and other books.
Tsuyoshi Tane Architect Representing Iwate Prefecture, Ichinohe City
Tsuyoshi Tane is a Paris-based Japanese architect. He founded ATTA - Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects in Paris in 2017 after being co-founder of DGT. Architects in 2006. He is recognized as one of the leading architects in the new generation for designing architecture as part of "The 20 essential young architects" by ICON magazine. Tsuyoshi believes in the idea that architecture holds a memory of place that connects its past to the future as embodied in his concept - “Archaeology of the Future.” In his career, he has received numerous awards and honors, including, Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres (appointed by the French ministry of Culture in 2022) , Grand Prix AFEX - French Architects Overseas 2021 and 2016, the Jean-Dejean Prize of the French Academy of Architecture, the New Albums of Young Architects and Landscape (NAJAP 07-08) awarded by the French Ministry of Culture, Estonian Cultural Endowment Grand Prix, nomination for the European Union Mies van der Rohe Award 2017, the 67th Japanese Ministry new face Award of Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts, the 67th Mainichi Design Awards 2021 and many others. Tsuyoshi is frequently invited to lecture at schools of architecture and institutions for public talks. He has been teaching at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) NY/Paris in 2012-2018 and is currently invited as a visiting professor at Tama Art University. Since 2020, Tsuyoshi has been elected to TOTO GALLERY·MA as a committee member.
Photo by Yoshiaki Tsutsui
Koichiro Tsujikawa Film Director Representing Hyōgo Prefecture, Himeji City
Koichiro Tsujikawa is an innovative filmmaker born in 1972 in Fukuoka, Japan. He began his career working as an art director designing CD jackets and book covers, eventually moving into music video production at the request of his musician friends. He is actively creating work both in Japan and abroad across variety of media, including, commercials, short films, and music videos and installations for artists such as Cornelius. In his work, Tsujikawa often visualizes the delusions and hallucinations that casually emerge from everyday life, giving them form with a childlike playfulness. He has received numerous awards, including the Best Director Award at the SPACE SHOWER TV Music Video Awards 05 (2005), the Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival (2006), and the Special Prize for Best Director at the ACC CM FESTIVAL (2009).
Presented by JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles
Organized by NHK (The Japan Broadcasting Corporation) NHK Promotions Inc. NHK Educational
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