Feature Stories
March 27, 2020
Nomura takes part in Artist in the Office project
Nomura Holdings participated in Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs' Artist in the Office project as part of research for the Agency's cultural economics strategy*. The project examines the impact regular exposure to art in the office has on people and explores whether interaction with art and artists inspires new perspectives and positively impacts their work.
- *The project aims to create value through collaboration between culture and industry in order to help develop a mechanism for the sustainable development of the cultural arts.
With the support of Culture Vision Japan, an organization commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs to manage the project, Nomura invited artist Saki Tanaka to conduct an art workshop for its employees. Employees' artworks were made into a collage and the finished art piece was displayed at the firm's head office. Nomura also did an exhibition of Kosei Komatsu's artwork "Air Line" at its head office and held an art appreciation workshop led by Mr. Komatsu.
Art workshop and live demonstration by Saki Tanaka
Saki Tanaka
Born in San Francisco, California in 1984, Saki Tanaka currently resides in Tokyo. She graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design in 2006. Having spent her early childhood in the US and Hong Kong, she has a keen interest in different countries and cultures. Her artworks include drawings and paintings, and incorporate the use of wood. In addition to exhibits and live painting, she continues to take her "Stay & Work" art project to the places she visits around the world. She interweaves life, travel and creative expression into her work and derives power from different places and from color. Her work is a distinctive balance of space, rhythm and bold brush strokes influenced by her study of calligraphy from a young age.
Employees working on their art pieces at the workshop
Live demonstration and collage making using employee art pieces
Collage of employee artworks was taken apart and made into envelopes
Art appreciation workshop with Kosei Komatsu and exhibition at Nomura head office
Kosei Komatsu
Kosei Komatsu was born in 1981 in Tokushima, Japan. After completing his graduate studies at the Tokyo University of Arts, he joined Atelier Omoya, an artist group. An independent artist since 2014, his interest in "floating" led to a passion for birds and feathers, the central themes of his work. He pursues the concepts of lightness, movement and light while focusing on the link between nature's technology and the technologies created by people. He has received numerous awards including the Japan Media Arts Festival Judge's Award in 2006, the DSA Design Award for Excellence in 2015 and the Red Dot Design Award for Communication Design in 2016.
