Profile

Akiko Kato is a sumi-ink painting artist, book cover designer, and paper craft artist based in London.

After working as an editor for an educational magazine in Tokyo, she moved to London alone and received a BA from the typography department at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London.

Akiko continued to engage in a wide range of creative activities including branding design, packaging design, and craft-making and has recently focused on designing book covers for a world-renowned British publishing company.

She suddenly started feeling nostalgic for the smell of sumi-ink from the calligraphy class she attended in her childhood and the imperfect beauty of moments that cannot be expressed digitally, and dived into the world of ink painting.

While learning each traditional technique, she continues to seek ways to apply it to modern times. She respects nature and feels the possibility of capturing and expressing the invisible.

Her continuing fascination with the process of people and cultures crossing boundaries is the driving force behind her creations.

ロンドン在住の水墨画家、装丁家、グラフィックデザイナー、ペーパークラフト製作家。

東京で教育誌編集者を経て単身ロンドンに渡り、美大のタイポグラフィ科を卒業。

その後、英国の出版社にて本の装丁を中心に、パッケージデザイン、ディズニーの工作模型製作など幅広いクリエイティブ活動を続ける。

ふと幼い頃通っていた書道教室の墨の匂いと、デジタルでは表せない瞬間の不完全な美が懐かしくなり、水墨画の世界へ飛び込む。伝統の技法の一つ一つを習得しながらも、それを現代に応用した表現を模索。自然を敬い、目に見えないものを捉えて表すことへの可能性を感じて、日々製作に励む。

人や文化が「境界線を越える」過程に惹かれ続けていることが、創作の原動力となっている。