Koichi Kosugi
Koichi Kosugi joined Hakuhodo after graduating from Musashino Art University. At Hakuhodo he works as a creative director and art director, engaging in a broad spectrum that includes branding, events, spatial design, art direction of technologically innovative forms of advertising, collaboration with apparel brands, etc. Kosugi’s work is the subject of Vol. 2 of “Hakuhodo Art Directors Works & Styles” series. His awards received to date include: Tokyo ADC Award, JAGDA New Designer Award, ACC Award, Cannes Lions Gold Award, D&AD, ONESHOW, Galaxy Award, ADFEST Grand Prix, Busan International Advertising Festival Grand Prix, JR Poster Grand Prix Highest Award, Asahi Newspaper Advertising Runner-up Award, Fuji Sankei Group Advertising Outstanding Award, etc.

Ken Okamuro
Ken Okamuro was born in Tokyo in 1978. After completing a Master’s Degree in Design from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2006, he joined Hakuhodo. Among the many prizes he has garnered are: Tokyo ADC Award, 2008 JAGDA New Designer Award, JAGDA Award, Tokyo Type Directors (TDC) Second Prize, etc. In his quest to expand the possibilities of paper, Okamuro creates innovative products incorporating new technologies. He also develops new media and actively undertakes work beyond advertising design.

Techno-shugei Club
The Techno-shugei Club is an art unit formed by Kyoko Kasuya and Tomofumi Yoshida in 2008. The name “Techno-shugei” was chosen as a combination of technology—here referring to electronic works—and “shugei,” the Japanese word for handicrafts. The Club creates works that bring technology close to home, and also hold workshops. It proposes how to make things transcending specific genres. Techno-shugei Club has produced two publications: a book titled “Techno-shugei” (Works Corporation) and a mook they supervised on making soft but shiny animals out of wool felt.

mintdesigns
Hokuto Katsui and Nao Yagi both graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, in London, in 2000. In 2001, together they established mintdesigns in Tokyo. They have participated in the Tokyo Collection fashion show events ever since the Spring/Summer season of 2003. In 2005 mintdesigns received the 7th Moet & Chandon New Designers Award, and in 2010 it won the 28th Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix. In 2015 the team published “MINTDESIGNS” (Seigensha). In 2016 they opened their own shop, MINTDESIGNS AOYAMA, in a fashionable area of Tokyo.

Naoko Fukuoka
Naoko Fukuoka is a graphic designer. In 2010 she established her own company, woolen, and began creative work focused on graphic design. She has won a JAGDA New Designer Award, JAGDA Award for Package Design, Tokyo ADC Award, Japan Package Design Gold Award, and TOPAWARDS ASIA (April/August 2017), and was nominated for a Tokyo TDC Award. She founded woolen press in 2014.

Dainippon Type Organization
Dainippon Type Organization was formed in 1993 by two young men: Hidechika, the one with a beard and without a surname, and Tetsuya Tsukada, the one with a surname and without a beard. For 25 years they have been playing with writing systems. As a team they probe new concepts in writing systems through their experiments in disarticulating, combining and reconfiguring the components of writing systems in Japanese and English.

TORAFU ARCHITECTS
TORAFU ARCHITECTS was founded in 2004 by Koichi Suzuno and Shinya Kamuro. Their work is based on architectural thinking and is highly diverse, encompassing architectural design, shop interior design, exhibition space design, product design, spatial installations and film making. In 2011 they published “airvase book” and “TORAFU ARCHITECTS 2004-2011 Idea + Process” (both BIJUTSU SHUPPAN-SHA), followed in 2012 by a picture book titled “TORAFU’s Small City Planning” (Heibonsha), and in 2016 “TORAFU ARCHITECTS Inside Out” (TOTO Publishing).

Bastien Contraire
Born in 1982, Bastien Contraire resides in Paris. In 2008, together with Romina Pelagatti he established the alternative publishing house Papier Gaché. In 2016 he published his first picture book, “Les Intrus,” which has evolved into a series about animals and transportation modes that has been translated into English and three other languages. In creating his picture books, Bastien Contraire always uses an approach that is minimalist but filled with playfulness. In 2018 he published “Bleu Sourire” from Centre Pompidou and held workshops for children. In 2010, together with Romina Pelagatti and Volker Zimmermann, he launched the “Fanzines!” festival. From the world of small publishing, he is succeeding in introducing the newest scene in French graphics.

Ryoji Tanaka
Born in Mie Prefecture in 1975, Ryoji Tanaka graduated from Doshisha University (Faculty of Engineering) and the International Academy of Media Arts and Science. In 2003 he founded Semitransparent Design. He performs everything from planning and production of websites to exhibitions of works. His major exhibitions include “tFont/fTime” (YCAM), “Semitra” (Creation Gallery G8), “Boring/Bored” (ggg) and “Illuminating Graphics” (Creation Gallery G8). In 2015 Tanaka won a JAGDA New Designer Award.