Design Director. After graduating from Kanazawa College of Art (Japan), she worked for Mitsubishi Electric and GK Design Group. Then she earned master’s degree from The Royal College of Art (UK) and worked as a designer for Dartington Crystal (UK), and Queensberry Hunt Levien Design Office (UK). She came back to Japan and established Kanae Design Labo in 1999. She works on wide variety of design projects with her idea of “from table top to its surroundings.” In fact, she does not just design tableware, home appliances, furniture, lighting fixtures, cosmetics packages, and daily commodities; she does it all, from analyzing market and developing concepts and products to designing sales strategy. Her awarded prizes include the competition grand prize of RSA (UK), Good Design Award (Japan), Red Dot Award (Germany), and more. Her motto is “To think from the consumers’ point of view.” Her private brand is working on project, “Let’s Reconsider the Foundation of Japan” and “Inclusive Design.” She was a guest lecturer of RCA (UK) in 2006. She served as a judge of Good Design Award from 2008 to 2009. Formerly a part-time lecturer at Nihon University (Japan), Tama Art University (Japan), and more. Currently a part-time lecturer at Kanazawa College of Art (Japan) and Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts (Japan). She also works as a member of external evaluation board of Toyama Design Center (Japan). She works on Japan Brand Design Support and Promotion Project by Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.