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JAPANESE STREETS went to visit the 39th Design Festa at Tokyo Big Sight. Some 10,000 artists exhibit, buy and sell work at this gigantic art event. Design Festa is held two times a year, so if you missed this one, start saving for the next one later this year!

Click here to see DAY 2

Also check out our coverage of the previous Design Festa!

ARTISTS

Kawai Iwatsugu creates beautiful felt cats, birds and cars.

Marisan Bakery is the brainchild of Yuko Kitagawa. She creates pouches, bags and stuffed animals on the theme of bread.

Yoshinobu Takami creates small clay dolls that somehow feel very Japanese.

Hitomi Fukushi creates illustrated books and has created a whole world of characters and goods around them.

Masao Tazaki is a sign maker who creates clay faces in his free time. This is his sixth time to exhibit at Design Festa.

Ucalino is a tiny independent brand for really cute and comfy slippers for indoors.

Jupiter is artist Keiko Ichioka’s brand for her fantastical and otherworldly watercolor paintings.

Kobo Zoo showed a huge collection of animesque animals. They were selling like hot cakes.

Thank You Monami is the brand-new brand of designer Musashi. Really cute and playful designs that we hope to see a lot more of. Unfortunately, there is no website yet…

Toumei Manila was launched in 2004 by Sayuri Hoshino. She creates clothes that are cute and playful, but are just about safe to wear to work.

Mystère et Beauté was started by designer Lyn to create order made stage clothing for Visual Kei bands. Lyn doesn’t have her own site, but shares one with her designer friend Kanda.

Chono is the brand if Wataru Nakazono. His creations are made with textiles he design himself.

komopuru jya-ji was started by Kaeru Kimidori in 2013 to “create cute sports jackets.”

BambyStar is a mask brand started in 2010.

Makoto Nagaoka’s brand Dwarf was born in 2002 after Nagaoka’s friends fell in love with the shoes he had remade for himself.

Saeki Saijo started doll design about 14 years ago. Her work comes straight out of a fantasy world. Even her displays at Design Festa transport you to another world.

Kin Kuzushima creates little dolls inspired by her imagination which have kind of a 60’s feel.

MORE

PEOPLE

Hideaki Kobayashi, the famous man in the sailor uniform. He is actually a computer engineer who is very open and easy to talk with. Here is some background info about Kobayashi. He also appears in commercials and music videos.

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