Hi, my name is hitoko.
I was born in Kobe (remember the big earthquake in Japan?) and was raised in Tokyo.
My dream as a little girl was to be a pianist. I spent most of my after-school time just playing the piano. But I gave up at the age of 17 after taking some private classes at one of the most prestigious music schools in Tokyo.
I was earning a little money by modeling while going to college. Even though I was enjoying my life, I didn't know what to do with my future.
Then i met an art director through a modeling job. I was pursuaded to be his design assistant. It was a big change in my life. I learned design on the job working for many top-notch clients in Tokyo. "This is it!" I felt that I found what I would want to do for the rest of my life. I started thinking about going to New York to study design after a while.
After winning the invitation of Olympic games to Nagano in which I was working as a Graphic Designer, in early summer, 1992, I flew to New York alone. Three months passed and my dearest father passed away. I went back to Tokyo again. However, I decided to stick to the original plan to go to New York after spending with my family in Japan for two months.
I studied at SVA, majoring in Graphic Design and earned a BFA. When I was in college, I worked as a design intern at New Yorker Magazine whose chief editor was Tina Brown at that time.
After graduation, I became an Art Director for a company where I designed movie titles and posters. I worked for Woody Allen, Hal Hartley, and Abel Ferarra who were New York based movie directors. Spending several years as a Senior Graphic Designer at harmon design, I am now a freelance designer.
I specialize in branding identities; logo design, annual reports, brochures, magazines, newsletters, direct mail, advertising, or exhibits; and building web sites.
In September of 2006, I had a chance to have my own fashion brand line as the main designer. The brand name is hitoko u.b. new york. The first project was to design a series of 100% silk scarves. This year, the second scarf series is on the way out soon.
Since the 1990's, I also started writing essays. I have published two books. I am writing articles for Japanese newspapers about raising kids in New York.
After living in New York for about 15 years, I moved down to North Carolina.
We picked Chapel Hill, NC to live and I am enjoying the slow life there with my husband and three kids.
scarf lovers!
cool people, interesting people from all over the world.
people who need a freelance graphic designer for their projects.
other designers from different fields for networking.
