ARITA: Eternally Modern at NY NOW

This was a collaboration with Made in Japan Project, funded by the Saga Prefectural Government. For the project, we completed the overall brand strategy, naming, exhibition design, art direction, website, and product design consultation for a government-led initiative promoting porcelain creators from Arita and their efforts to bring innovative Japanese design to the American market through NY NOW.

RESEARCH & CONSULTATION
Over the course of nine months, we visited Arita—the birthplace of porcelain in Japan—to consult with participating kilns and distributors over ideas for their product design, brand positioning, and marketing strategy for the U.S. market.

BRANDING
For the visual identity, we designed a lemniscate ∞ paired with the town’s name and the tagline “Eternally Modern,” pointing to how Arita creators continue to evolve four centuries of tradition, craftsmanship, and innovation into distinctively modern everyday products.

WEBSITE
Our responsive bilingual website was written for both Western and Japanese readers, with distinct messaging catered to each audience. We art-directed all of the website’s videos and photography, including a portrayal of key products falling in slow motion, close-ups in 360-degree rotation, documentary photos of Arita, and a video showing the porcelain-creation process.

EXHIBITION BOOTH
For the NY NOW market exhibition in February 2018, we designed a corner booth divided by a diagonal wall archway similar to those typically found in traditional porcelain kilns. Each creator had a museum-like stage and hidden storage underneath.