Past Meetings

December 13, 2006. The Apple Store in the Shinsaibashi district of Osaka played host to the DESIGN MATTERS meeting.

Jasper & Sachiko

OZ AT USJ: CREATIVE JOURNEY TO THE EMERALD CITY
This past summer at Universal Studios Japan an imaginative new area opened called, The Land of Oz, based on the original American children's book by Frank L. Baum.The development of the concept and the fast-track implementation on a shoe-string budget were outlined by lead designers Jasper von Meerheimb and Sachiko Kawamura.The designers discussed how restrictive conditions put on creative projects can lead to inventive solutions. Great presentation! (and a great after-party too!)

About the presenters
As an independent consultant, Jasper von Meerheimb works internationally on many types of themed visitor destinations. Originally from Canada, he graduated from the University of Alberta with a Masters in Theater Design and promptly left for Mexico to design for Club Med. Never looking back he went on to California to work with Walt Disney Imagineering, Lotte World, Getty Museum, etc. He is on assignment in Osaka as Senior Art Director with Universal Studios Japan, which he helped originally to design and build.

Sachiko Kawamura's starting point in design was in Visual Merchandising display design for Daimaru department store in Osaka.Then as a freelance display designer, she realized that all the designs are developed as one frame in view. So now she is doing designs that enchant the guests of theme parks and the clients regardless of 2D, 3D, real or virtual. To utilize her unique capacity and experiences in design, she now works as an Environmental Graphic Design consultant at Universal Creative Japan where she works to maintain the high quality standards of USJ by collaborating with art directors from overseas.