Kunitake Saso

Profile

Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law. Earned a Master of Design Methods at the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology. Began career at P&G, involved in marketing hit products such as Febreze and Lenor, later serving as Brand Manager for Gillette. After working at Human Value, joined Sony’s Creative Center, contributing to the launch of the company-wide new business creation program, Sony Seed Acceleration Program, before founding BIOTOPE, a strategic design firm.

Has supported innovation and branding for a diverse range of companies and organizations, including Yamamotoyama, Sony, Panasonic, Omron, NHK Educational, Cookpad, NTT DOCOMO, Tokyu Corporation, Japan Football Association, KINTO, ALE, Cross Fields, and the village of Hakuba. Has also led numerous projects on defining and implementing corporate philosophies.

Author of Connecting Intuition and Logic, Why Design Thinking is Essential for 21st Century Business, Vision Driven Innovation: Changing the Future with a Single Imagination, and Philosophy-Driven Management 2.0. Visiting Associate Professor at Tama Art University.

Stance & Style

A Companion in Shaping Vision
Love walking alongside others in the process of drawing out visions not yet formed and giving them shape through storytelling.

Weaving Stories of Hope
Believe in the creativity within people and wish to turn the futures born in that creative process into stories of hope.

DesigningPhilosophy
VisionAtelier
Storytelling
BrandingJapaneseCulture
WritingBooks

Profile

Stance & Style

Projects

Strategic design for creating value from a traditional company’s historical assets

Grand design for a company’s moonshot

Vision design for the next generation of city planning with emphasis on utilization of local resources

Clarify the company policy and realize growth through co-creative website design

Business design for creating social value through sports

Design a new business development ecosystem by involving people from within and outside the company through a multistakeholder co-creation workshop

Development of the next generation of smart stationeries by valuing the experience of both the user and the creator

Synthesize and visualize the founder and management’s vision, and paint a happy future vision created through social problem solving