TAKRAM - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Industrial Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
After learning human ergonomics for personal mobilities at The Tokyo University as well as industrial design from Chiba University and The Polytechnic University of Milan, Daiki worked for Daikin Industries, looking after product development from ideation through production as an industrial designer. Both his personal and professional works have received numerous awards including Good Design Awards, iF Design Award, Red Dot Design Award, KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD 2016 Grand Prix, LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2015 Prototype Winner.
Job Titles:
- Financial Administrator, Tokyo
After working as an OA instructor, museum receptionist, at an iron and steel trading company and temporary staffing company, Emiko Kudo joined Takram in 2012 where she is now in charge of accounting.
Job Titles:
- Project Facilitator, Tokyo
After graduating from the Faculty of Science at Saitama University, Erika experienced research data analysis at a credit research company and career advising at a staffing agency. She joined Takram in 2019, taking on the project operation support in Takram.
Job Titles:
- Business Designer, New York
Job Titles:
- Design Engineer, Project Director, Tokyo
With Takram since 2012, Hisato is an award-winning design engineer whose multidisciplinary abilities span from hardware to software and from art to science. After working LEADING EDGE DESIGN corp., Hisato founded ON THE FLY Inc. in 2010 and produced a number of influential works including the notable on the fly navigation design. A recipient of the Good Design Award in 2004 and the German iF Product Design Award in 2005, his work has most recently received acclaim at the Media Arts Festival held by the Japanese National Agency of Cultural Affairs in 2012. He holds a B.Eng. in Department of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tokyo, and Media-Master degree from the International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS).
Jonathan is a hybrid designer and technologist who most enjoys creating participatory, social, and tangible experiences in order to both inform and delight the world around us. Following a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Computation Arts at Concordia University and a graduate degree in Event Design at UQAM, both in Montreal, he has accumulated experiences working for acclaimed interactive studios/artists such as Sosolimited, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and Daily Tous Les Jours.
Working at the intersection of holistic design processes, physical installations, data visualization, and software development, his preferred tools of the trade include Cinder, OpenFrameworks, D3.js, Arduino, Node.js, and anything else that may assist in transmitting an idea to an audience. Also keenly interested in the flourishing of creative communities, he has participated in building and creating various groups around creative coding for exploring emerging technologies and teaching artistic expression through programming.
Job Titles:
- Product Designer, Service Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
Jun Murakoshi is a graduate of Chiba University (MEng Design Science) and the Royal College of Art (MA Design Products). He has worked on new business, product, and scenario development for Takram and various innovation consulting firms since 2008. He is also assistant professor at Chiba University's Center for International Research and Education and program manager for University of Tokyo's i.school. Before joining Takram in 2020, he founded Jun Murakoshi Design and was an active figure in both the Japanese and international design scene.
Jun was a finalist for the 2017 Hublot Design Prize and has received numerous awards including Interior Lifestyle's Young Designer Award and Japan Media Arts Festival's Jury Selection. His work is part of the permanent collection of the Neues Museum in Nuremberg and the Shanghai Museum of Glass. He is skilled in the Japanese art of flower arranging, or ikebana, and holds an Instructor Certification from Ryusei-ha in Japan.
Job Titles:
- Digital Product Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
Kanako is a digital product designer, working mainly on UI/UX design and branding of digital products. She joined Takram in 2020 after experiencing business development and growth, sometimes as design leads or partners at multiple startups.
Some of Kanako's notable works include; UI design for V-RESAS, an online platform by The Cabinet Office of Japan that visualises the economic impact of Covid-19 in Japan; support of the design advocate team of RAKSUL as well as their CI renewal; creative direction for KINS WITH, a DTC product for pets.
Job Titles:
- Design Engineer, Project Director, Tokyo
Keisuke Kambara is interested in technology related to human-computer interaction, design, and cognitive psychology. He was recognized as MITOH Program Super Creator in Software Innovation in 2005. He received a Masters Degree from the Graduate School of Media and Governance at Keio University SFC in 2006. Keisuke entered Hatena Co., Ltd. in 2006. Following a doctoral researcher program at the Ochanomizu University, he received a doctorate in Media and Governance in 2012 at Keio University. Joined Takram in 2013.
His strengths include research, concept making, prototyping, front-end to back-end software engineering, and UI design. His notable projects include concept and UI design for local guide apps by NTT Docomo.
Job Titles:
- Design Engineer, Sound Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
Keisuke Oyama conducted research and development on sound design/musical interfaces while attending Keio University, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies. After graduation, he joined IMG SRC inc. where he worked on interactive installations/mobile applications as an engineer. Sharing Takram's philosophy on working freely across the fields of design/engineering and software/hardware, he joined the company in 2015.
Job Titles:
- Design Strategist
- Design Strategist, Project Director, Tokyo
Ken is a design strategist, focusing and experimenting on possible applications and cultures for different technologies. As a strategist, he is interested in how one technology is structured and embraced by society, while as a designer, he is interested in how people perceive and interact with them, establishing their own culture and understanding around it.
Job Titles:
- Design Engineer, Project Director, Tokyo
Kinya is an award-winning design engineer experienced in a wide range of products including hardware, software and interactive art. He holds a BEng from the University of Tokyo, an MA from the Royal College of Art in the UK. His work was selected as a permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was assigned as a visiting professor the Royal College of Art, from 2015 to 2018. With his contribution to the RCA, he was awarded as an Honorary Fellow, RCA in 2018. Kinya is also appointed as a member of several design related committees of Japanese Government.
Job Titles:
- Context Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
Kotaro WATANABE splits his time between Tokyo and London, aiming to use design to weave stories rather than simply creating products. He has lived and worked in cities including Tokyo, Hong Kong and Brussels among other places.
His projects span a wide range of fields, from branding, service design to art work commissions. Kotaro's projects include corporate branding of NIKKEI, the world's largest financial newspaper, "FLORIOGRAPHY", an international campaign of flower corsage and letter-writing for ISSEY MIYAKE, "Message Soap, in time", a bar of soap with a hidden written message inside, and "Morioka Shoten", a bookstore in Tokyo known for "a Single Room with a Single Book", among others. Kotaro holds worldwide lectures and workshops, whilst running projects internationally. He serves as juror of German iF Design Awards and guest professor at Keio University SFC.
Job Titles:
- Art Director, Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
While majoring in design at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Kotaro Yamaguchi also gained experience as a designer in a wide range of visual design including graphic design, signage design, video design, and UI design. In 2014 he completed the post-doctorate program at Tokyo University of The Arts, Graduate School of Fine Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts. He joined Takram in 2014. His Notable projects include art direction for "mimicries," a children's science education program by NHK E-Television. Recipient of D&AD Yellow Pencil, Good Design Award, 2014 Japan Prize The Best Work in the Pre-school Category (The Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Prize).
After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design, Maria joined TBWA\HAKUHODO, where she designed for NISSAN, UNIQLO, McDonald's, P&G, and other firms. Her design output ranges wide, from graphic design to commercials and music videos, from product design to package design. Some of her notable recognitions include Young Spikes Design Gold, Young Cannes Lion Cyber Silver (Japan Representative), Young Spikes Integrated Silver (Japan Representative), Young Cannes Lion Cyber Silver (Japan Representative), Busan International Advertising Festival U30 NEW STARS. She joined Takram in 2021.
Job Titles:
- Design Engineer, Project Director, Tokyo
After graduating from Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at The University of Tokyo in 2018, Masato joined Takram.
His interest is to speculate on possible futures that technology might bring with augmentation for human perception, cognition and emotion. He works on diverse projects, from data science to interaction design and media art, his process also ranging from concept building to prototyping.
Job Titles:
- Business Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
After studying design methods such as design thinking, design research, and speculative design during her years at Keio University, Megumi joined ADK Holdings as a strategic planner. She had led marketing and branding projects for domestic and global markets with clients ranging from multi-national corporates to startups.
Megumi joined Takram in 2019 and is responsible for designing sustainable and resilient businesses for clients.
Job Titles:
- Designer
- Researcher
- Designer, London
Michael Pecirno is a designer & researcher. His work focusses on researching, design, and writing about the complex interactions between people, places, and technology. This work crosses the boundaries of traditional design disciplines in order to create enriched objects, spaces, and ideas through research.
Michael completed his undergraduate degree in architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago and his M.A. from the Royal College of Art. He has been an invited research fellow at the Architectural Association and Archeworks School of Design.
Job Titles:
- Design Engineer, Project Director, Tokyo
After graduating from Future University Hakodate, Faculty of Architecture, Minoru Ito gained interaction design experience through the R&D project at GK TECH Inc., and production of museum exhibitions. Skilled at prototyping and developing installations using visual programming tool "vvvv", in 2014, he published "vvvvook - A GUIDE TO VISUAL PROGRAMMING FOR PROTOTYPING." He is also involved in plugin development and holds workshops both domestically and internationally. He joined Takram in 2015.
Job Titles:
- Design Engineer, Project Director, Tokyo
Minoru's work stretches wide from big data visualisation and UI/UX design to service design. He received MITOH Program Super Creator, Software Innovation in 2007 and completed the doctorate program at Tokyo University of The Arts, Department of Design in 2014 before joining Takram in 2014.
Some of his notable works include; prototyping for "RESAS: Regional Economy Society Analyzing System," a big data visualization system for the Japanese government; UI planning and design for a data science support tool "DataDiver"; design for "A Plan for Tokyo, 2020: Five Purr-fect Points for Feline Architecture," in collaboration with Kengo Kuma; direction of NSK's global campaign, "__ with Motion & Control". He has been awarded GOOD DESIGN GOLD AWARD and many other awards for various projects.
Job Titles:
- Experience Designer, Project Director, New York
Motosuke joined Takram in 2019 and launched the New York branch after working for a design firm and a major media company in Japan. He has released and grown numerous services and products as Product Manager and Head of UX. Typical examples include an AI chatbot that converses in natural language with 20 million users, and a shift calendar app that is the most used in Japan. His awards include the Good Design Award Best 100, Silver Prize at the TIAA, and Bronze Prize at the ADFEST.
Job Titles:
- Industrial Designer, Service Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
Naoaki Iwamatsu joined Takram in 2020 as an industrial and service designer, focusing on the production aspect of new business and service development. After receiving his master's in Design and Management Engineering from Kyoto Institute of Technology, he started his career at a big IT hardware manufacturing company, where he was involved in the strategic planning of startups, future visions, and mass production.
Naoaki is one-half of the design duo akii, whose creations are sold at Vitra and other museum stores worldwide. He has been the recipient of a variety of industry honours, including the 2011 James Dyson Award, iF Design Award, and German Design Award.
Job Titles:
- Sales Admin
- People Admin Manager, Tokyo
After working as a sales admin for a housing manufacturer, Naoko shifted her career to HR, looking for better ways to connect people with the company. She then worked at a medical human resources company, where she experienced recruiting, personnel management, and corporate management. Naoko joined Takram in May 2021 and has supported our personnel systems and operation management since.
Job Titles:
- Creative Strategist, New York
Job Titles:
- Career Support Manager, Tokyo
Rie Ano is in charge of People and Organisation Team. After graduating from School of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University, she joined a major city bank where she worked in the loan department. After working in the planning department at a major temporary staffing agency, she joined Takram in 2010.
Job Titles:
- Digital Product Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
In Takram, Riku plays an active part in design research, concept development and information architecture through his experience in building information architecture for large websites as well as creating and renewing numerous digital services. Through his research, he aims to gather insights that even the stakeholders were not aware of.
Job Titles:
- Design Engineer
- Design Engineer, Tokyo
Ryosuke Fujii is a design engineer with strengths in interaction design and software engineering. After a career as a pastry chef, he worked at a website and application development company, and joined Takram in 2010 after gaining experience in software engineering. He is involved in numerous smartphone service application design and development projects.
Satoru Osawa started his career as a researcher in a company manufacturing digital broadcasting products, working on microwaves including millimetre waves. Later, he entered IAMAS (Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences) and also studied Interface Cultures as an exchange student at the University of Art and Design in Linz. He is interested in physical interaction, putting an emphasis on interaction design which accompanies motion. Hardware prototyping is one of his strongest suits. He joined Takram in 2016.
Job Titles:
- Design Engineer, Project Director, Tokyo
Seitaro Taniguchi finished his bachelor's degree at Keio University SFC in 2008 and completed his master's degree at Tokyo University of The Arts, Faculty of Design. He moved to UK in 2011 for following the Innovation Design Engineering Masters program at the Royal College of Art. After working as a freelance design engineer for a while, he returned to Japan and joined Takram in 2013. With exploring the methodology and the value of problem finding and solution providing based on multidisciplinary knowledges and skills, he is primarily engaged in the development of interactive product and installation that includes hardware styling, mechanical and electronics engineering or software development. His notable projects are "Moon Exploration Rover", "Hydrogen Energy R&D Center", "Shiseido ‘KANSEI' Design Lab." and his awards include Good Design Award, Second Prize at the Tokyo Designers Week 2013 Young Creators Competition.
Job Titles:
- Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
Sho Tanaka seeks to find beauty in relationships between industry and culture. He is centered on product design, and is involved in a wide range of work relating to lifestyles including visual design, brand development, and UI design. After managing his own design company, he joined Takram in 2015.
After studying interaction design, Shouhei Hasegawa worked on web applications and digital projects at HAKUHODO i-studio Inc. He graduated from Chiba University, Faculty of Engineering, and Tama Art University, Department of Information Design in 2011, and joined Takram in 2015 as a specialist in UI/UX design.
Job Titles:
- Design Engineer, Project Director, Tokyo
Shota Matsuda engages in graphic design, interface design, software engineering, and hardware prototyping. He is a graduate of Keio University, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies. After becoming a researcher at the Ochanomizu University, and assistant researcher at the JST ERATO IGARASHI Design Interface Project, he joined Takram in 2013. He is particularly interested in technology related to text and is recognized as Super Creator in Digital Typography by the Exploratory IT Human Resources Project (MITOH Program). His notable recognitions include the Good Design Award in 2011.
Develop idea and build business based on the depth psychology of humans. After graduating from Keio University, built career as a Brand Strategist at a foreign ad agency. Worked for foreign companies operating in the Japanese market in the area of user research,ads and product concept development. Joined Takram as a business designer in 2021.
Job Titles:
- Business Manager, Tokyo
- in 2006 As Its First Employee
After a 7-year career as a systems engineer, Soko Takezawa joined Takram in 2006 as its first employee. At the time, she covered all business activities except for the company's main work all by herself, establishing administrative systems and regulations that provided the basis for the company today. Graduated from ICU.
Job Titles:
- Culture & Relations, Tokyo
Following her art direction and event planning work for FabCafe at Loftwork Inc., Sonoka joined Mercari, Inc. in 2018 after a period of freelancing. At Mercari, she first worked for R4D, a R&D unit, joined the design team assigned with the task of company-wide branding. She joined Takram in 2021. She is aspired to realise and develop an open and creative space for everyone. and organises "Design Scramble", a design festival, during her private hours.
After graduating from university, Takafumi Yano joined an editing production company. He engaged in editing and production of corporate PR magazines. At the same time, he studied under Shigeo Goto, an editor and creative director, at the editing workshop "Super School". Later, he worked in the editorial department of "Kurashi-no-Techo" and "WIRED JAPAN", where he was involved in print magazine and digital contents production. He joined Takram as an editor in 2021. His hobby is ultra-distance trail running.
Job Titles:
- Strategic Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
Takuma is a strategic designer who stands at the intersection of business and creative, developing new businesses and products. He constructs concepts and business models using design research, workshops, and other methods. In addition to design thinking, he develops an approach that combines behavioural economics and system thinking.
Graduating from Kyoto Institute of Technology, Design and Management Engineering, at university, he studied product design, management and engineering in a cross-disciplinary manner, giving him an insight into product development from a wide range of perspectives. He practised service design at a design firm during which he was involved in the launch of many products and services, as well as UX strategy formulation, information design, and direction in website production and app development. He joined Takram in 2019.
Job Titles:
- Art Director, Project Director, Tokyo
Taro Yumiba graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, Graphic Design Department, and interned at San Francisco advertisement agency Attik. He joined THA ltd. in 2009, where he was involved in a wide range of projects ranging from campaign website and service design, to video production and publications. As a type fanatic, he runs an online compendium of world's type foundries "TypeCache.com". Under the TypeCache label, he also sells alphabet t-shirts, writes about European fonts, and gives lectures. He joined Takram in 2015.
Job Titles:
- Prototyping Engineer, Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
Tatsuya Narita graduated from Tama Art University, Department of Information Design. He joined Takram in 2014 as an associate. He works on hardware development and prototyping using electronics and digital fabrication technology. His work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art Tokyo "Ars Electronica-30 Years for Art and Media Technology" exhibition in 2010, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT "Motion Science" exhibition, and 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT " traNslatioNs" exhibition. Awards include 2009 Prix Ars Electronica, [the next idea] honorary mention.
Terushige Enatsu aimed to become an illustrator during his college years. Later, he became interested in web design and graphic design, and followed a path in the design field. He joined Takram following a career at a web design company. At Takram, he is primarily engaged in UI/UX projects, and his notable projects include UI design for local guide apps by NTT Docomo. Graduate of Sophia University, Faculty of Economics Department of Management.
After graduating from the Graphic Design course of Tohoku University of Arts and Design, Tomoro joined a design studio where he experienced graphic design for music and fashion industry. He then joined NOSIGNER, taking on branding work for various businesses. In 2020, he has become a member of Takram. During off-hours, Tomoro is a passionate lead vocalist for a noise band.
Job Titles:
- Business Designer, Project Director, Tokyo
Yasuhiro is a Business Designer with 10 years experience engaging in new business, service, product, and user experience creation. In Takram, he has led a wide variety of design/creative projects ranging from service design, product development, branding, and concept building, to UX design. He has been extending the boundary of "design" by seamlessly integrating creative process with business methodologies such as go-to-market strategy and growth strategy. He aims to not only create a good product but also enhance great scalable business.
Before Takram, he worked for ITOCHU Corporation for eight years and was mainly in charge of building market strategy in software, hardware, and Web field and venture investment in Tokyo and Silicon Valley. Yasuhiro holds a Master of Design Methods degree from IIT Institute of Design and a BA in Political Science and Economics from Waseda University.
Yoshifumi is a word designer who approaches users and design processes through words, in forms such as concepts. After graduating from Kyoto University, he joined a global consumer goods company, followed by a global ad company, finally joining Takram in 2021. He was previously engaged in branding and communication strategy planning for global clients as a copywriter, and won a Copy Gold award of Sendenkaigi Ad awards for one of his works.
Job Titles:
- Creative Technologist, Project Director, London
- Director and Creative Technologist at Takram London
Yosuke is director and creative technologist at Takram London, specialising in futures research, digital prototyping and interaction design, and designs for better-informed decision-making about our future.
His recent projects, including Transitions to sustainable futures research with Hitachi, focus on the interplay between people, technology and the planet.
Yosuke was the recipient of the 2018 Swarovski Designers of the Future Award. He has also written for design publications such as Core77 and ICON magazine.
Job Titles:
- Project Facilitator, Tokyo
After graduating from Yokohama City University, Yuki Fushimi joined a major credit research firm where she engaged in industrial research and consultancy work. She joined Takram in 2018 as project facilitator.
Job Titles:
- Talent Attraction, Recruiting Manager, Tokyo
Since the beginning of her career, Yuko has focused on recruiting, training, and HR support. Prior to Takram, she worked for Recruit group (recruiting agent and recruiting support for major firms) and Raksul (recruiting of engineers, etc). Yuko joined Takram in 2021.
Job Titles:
- Designer, Project Director, Shanghai
After studying Vehicle Engineering in China, Zijun came to Japan to study design at Tokyo Metropolitan University, earning a Master's degree in Art & Engineering. Following graduation, he joined a major internet company in Japan, gaining experience in UI/UX design, motion graphics, video design, and web development.
In 2017, he participated in a national project "Kansai Research City" as the associate professor. These experiences led to a holistic understanding of the symbiotic relationship between design & technology, which he continues to investigate at Takram. He joined Takram in 2018 and launched the Shanghai branch in 2021.