Last week, we added some really sweet stationery by the Japanese stationery company Cozyca.
Cozyca was started in 2013 by the well-established stationery company, Hyogensha, which had been founded in 1948. Cozyca was launched to promote the works of independent artists and inspire writers by making available beautiful stationery that depicts the view from different artists' worlds. Cozyca also has a store in Kyoto called Hiraeth that displays all the artist collaboration stationery designs they produce as well as exhibits different artists' works in their gallery on the top floor. We would love to visit their adorable shop and gallery one day!
As we were writing the descriptions for our note pads and memo pads, we were really inspired by the charming illustrations and designs by the artists Cozyca collaborate with and wanted to take some time to introduce a few of our favorites: kata kata, Aiko Fukawa, and Midori Asano.
kata kata. kata kata is a creative team made up of Takeshi Matsunaga and Chie Takai. From our research, it looks like they are a husband and wife duo with one son! The pair met in 2004 while attending Tokyo Zokei University and began their collaborations. They specialize in using the Japanese dyeing techniques called Katazome and Chusen to dye intricate and highly detailed designs and patterns onto cloth fabrics. Their works are bold and eye-catching and inspired by everything that can be felt in daily life from stories about animals, insects, plants, landscapes and more. You can check out their website and Instagram! I especially enjoyed watching the videos introducing the dyeing techniques they use (Katazome and Chusen).
Aiko Fukawa. Aiko Fukawa is an illustrator who creates art used for advertisements, book covers, stationery, magazines, children's picture books and more. She has published an art book called Holiday Art Works and a coloring book entitled Four Seasons. We love her playful illustrations and can see why they would be the perfect choice for children's picture books. Her Instagram bio reads "ILLUSTRATOR. I LOVE CAT" (enough said, right 😂) and her love of cats is clearly evident in many of her fun works. If anyone wants to check out her adorable cats (she has two) and amazing work, definitely take a look at her Instagram. One of my favorites is this illustration of a cat bakery she created for Neko Neko Factory, an actual bakery in Japan where you can find all sorts of cat-shaped pastries!
Midori Asano. After living and working in England as a graphic designer in advertising production, Midori Asano returned to Japan and began work as a freelance illustrator. She is currently based in Saitama, Japan and has recently worked with Maruman to create adorable illustrations for special stationery including washi tapes, sketch books and flake stickers to commemorate their 100th anniversary. Another really interesting project Midori Asano participated in was facilitated by the Japan Post during the pandemic. Since many people were staying home during Golden Week in Japan this past April, they began a post card-sending campaign. Many different illustrators including Asano were commissioned to create a post card, the template for which could be downloaded off the web and people were encouraged to send a post card home in place of being able to visit home for the holidays. How cute is that? You can check out some of the post card designs here. Asano's time living and traveling in Europe is strongly represented in her illustrations that depict rustic scenes of country and home living and we just love the cozy feeling of her designs.
For more Cozyca designs and artist collaborations, you can take a look at some of the note pads and memo pads we've added recently!
