Greetings! I'm Kaori, a Japan-born New York City-based creative director and designer. Armed with over two decades of design leadership across advertising, entertainment, and media, I've gathered a collection of awards, recognitions, and publications throughout my career.

As an accomplished creative leader, I have broad skills spanning marketing, branding, strategy, editorial, design, animation, live-action, and post-production. I relish tackling complex creative challenges across diverse genres and have built a track record of delivering unique and impactful results. I am skilled at managing high-performing in-house teams and excel at functioning as an internal creative agency to drive exceptional outcomes.

Passion and vision are my driving forces, and I thrive in environments where good design and compelling stories matter. With a belief in the transformative power of design, I've dedicated my career to showcasing its potential.

My work fuses the souls of design legends like Muller Brockmann, Saul Bass, and William Eggleston. I find joy in expressing complex emotions through timelessness, distilling them into simple geometric forms, light, and movement. There's also a subtle dance between my Japanese heritage, philosophy, and aesthetics, harmoniously interwoven with American pop culture.

"Kaori is an imperfect perfectionist who cherishes and expresses momentary simplicity in all its zen-like wonder." - Travis Spangler, Say the Magic Words.

Currently, I am active as a freelance creative in New York City and looking for a new adventure - whether it's an exciting project or a full-time position. Let's connect!

Areas of Expertise

360 Campaign

Creative & Design Direction 

Brand & Identity Development

Design System 

Creative Strategy and Marketing 

Visual Storytelling

Original Content

Budget allocation and oversight

Cross-Function Collaboration

C-Suite & Client presentations

Key Art

Motion graphics  & Animation

Graphic design 

Video / Post Production 

On-Set direction 

Project Management

Team Leadership & Development 

Hiring and Coaching

Adobe CS Applications 

Team Mentoring

Trend analysis

Honors, Awards & Recognitions

Promax / BDA : Gold, Silver and Bronze winner

The One Club for Creativity / ADC Awards : Motion & Film Craft Juror

Le Book : Juror

International Color Photography Awards : Juror

Ideas in Motion hosted by Fable App : Guest Speaker

SVA MFA Fine Arts / Women in Animation : Guest speaker

FIT Communication Design : Final review guest critic

Pratt Institute of Design : Guest Speaker

AIGA Design Archives : The N Rebrand, Logo Design

Press/ Publications

Daily Brief / Promax BDA

Spoon Tamago

Shoot Online, USA

Motionographer.com

CMYK Magazine, USA

Design Is Kinky : Semi-Permanent 04 Australia

Jeremyville Sketchel : Artist bag design collection

Contributing writer for Elle, Japan

8X8, Japan

H Magazine, Spain

Exhibitions, Festivals & Screenings

One Day on Earth, screened at United Nations: Film contributor

A Rift of Sunshine for you in the Head - Maxalot Gallery, Barcelona, Spain

BDA/Promax 20/120 “Chance”: New York City

Smilefacuet video collections: New York City 2003-2008

Group Show, te + te: New Handmade Co-curated with Spoon & Tamago: Brooklyn, NY

Apparel for Graniph: Tokyo, Japan

Naked - Gallery Show: New York City

Apparel for As Know As Tokyo, Japan