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The future of creativity x startups

2023.12.22 FRI

This session featured as our guest the artist Nayu Kakeya, a TOKYO STARTUP GATEWAY 2019 finalist. Kakeya, who used to work at a city bank but never gave up on her dreams and became an artist and entrepreneur, talked about her thoughts on startups and her passion for creating works. Offering a vision for the future of artist-run startups and speaking from her own experience, Kakeya emphasized the limitations of what can be done as an individual artist, and the possibilities of what can be done by starting a venture and involving people around you.

【 Date & Time 】
December 22 [Fri] 2023, 5:00pm-6:00pm
【 Speakers 】
Nayu Kakeya (Artist)
Taihei Shii (Startbahn, Inc.)
【 Moderator 】
Alisa Watanabe (Startbahn, Inc.)
【 Planning and implementation 】
Startbahn, Inc.

The future of creativity x startups, “Art as Catalyst” 2023
©Sakura Sueyoshi / Nacása & Partners Inc.

Nayu Kakeya

Artist

After a stint working at a city bank, she studied at Tokyo University of the Arts in the Department of Intermedia Art. In 2016 she entered the VR/AR game industry as a designer at meleap Inc. In 2018, her work “2.5 dimensional tactile sense” hailed the beginning of her work connecting art and small-scale town factories, and in 2019 she was a finalist in Tokyo Startup Gateway. In 2021 she took part in the planning of the Kawaguchi Machikoba Art Festival, and in 2022 was involved in the launch of Yogi Atelier Co., Ltd., where she works on material design for luxury brand shops and hotels both in Japan and overseas. She currently employs an original technique combining 3D printing and gold leaf in her creation under the theme “the means to touch love.”

Taihei Shii

Startbahn, Inc., CEO/ Art Beat, Inc., CEO
/ University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science, visiting researcher

Born in 1977, Taihei Shii is a contemporary artist and entrepreneur. In 2014, while still a graduate student at the University of Tokyo, he founded Startbahn, a company that provides infrastructure to ensure the reliability of artworks and support the transmission of their value. The core of his business, "Startrail," received a grant from the Ethereum Foundation in recognition of its benefit to the public good. He has been a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science and a member of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Study Group on Art and Economic Society.

Alisa Watanabe

Chief Revenue Officer, Startbahn, Inc.

Born in 1990, grew up in the neighbor of Ohara Museum of Art in Okayama, my favorite art museum of all time. B.A. in International Liberal Studies at Waseda Univerisity. Studied Film and minored in Aesthetics. Join Mitsubishi Corporation in 2013 and worked mainly for logistics business. Also had experience in working in Russia. Joined Startbahn from April 2021.

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Arts Council Tokyo

Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture