Chiaki Hayashi （CEO of Loftwork Inc.）

A graduate of the School of Commerce at Waseda University, Chiaki Hayashi obtained a master degree in journalism from Boston University. She founded Loftwork Inc. in 2000, and the company currently handles over 200 design projects annually in various fields including a Web, business, community, and spaces. Her publications include "Share wo Design Suru" (Designing shared spaces) and "Web Project Management Standards." Loftwork runs the global digital monozukuri cafe FabCafe and the co-working facility MTRL that focuses on materials, as well as other projects. Hayashi also serves as the Japan Liaison to the MIT Media Lab director, and as a member of the Good Design Awards Screening Committee. In 2014, she established the company Hida no Mori de Kuma wa Odoru (Bears Dancing in the Hida Forest; abbreviated as Hidakuma), in Hida City in Gifu Prefecture.

Hayashi is the CEO of the public and private joint enterprise Hidakuma, which aims to create local industries through monozukuri (manufacturing) and forest regeneration.

Seiichi Hishikawa（Film Maker, Photographer, Art Director, and Professor at Musashino Art University）

Born in 1969 in Tokyo, Seiichi Hishikawa moved to New York in 1991 and worked there for several years. He then returned to Japan and co-founded the design studio DRAWING AND MANUAL Inc. in 1997. Hishikawa has worked as a director and screenplay writer for short- and feature-length films, photographer, director of TV commercials, and art director of TV dramas and programs.

His main works include: art director of the long-running historical drama series on NHK, Komyo ga Tsuji, Yae no Sakura, and the NHK drama Saka no Ue no Kumo, etc.; directing music videos for dj honda, Ryota Fujimaki, K, HY, and other artists; directing corporate advertisements and TV commercials for Sony, Honda, Panasonic, NTT DoCoMo, P&G, Tiffany, and Pola, etc. Hishikawa directed the Mori no Mokkin (Forest Xylophone) TV commercial for NTT DoCoMo, which won over 20 international awards including CANNES LIONS.

Sari Hayashiguchi（CEO of Epiphany Works, Ltd.）

Born in Takaoka City in Toyama Prefecture, Sari Hayashiguchi graduated from the Department of Chinese at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. She decided to work in art and on projects after encountering modern art while studying abroad in London. After working at the Tokyo Design Center, P3 Art and Environment, and at other organizations, she founded Epiphany Works LLC in 2005.

Her works include: the Alma Music Box collaborative project between the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and various creators; the contemporary temple school School Nalanda, which invites lecturers from a diversity of fields including Buddhist monks, artists and scientists; planning and producing a wide range of projects connecting a wide range of fields from modern art, music and design to Buddhism and science.

In 2012, Hayashiguchi relocated the company’s base to Takaoka City in Toyama Prefecture. Since then, she has been working on numerous projects to promote monozukuri and town revitalization in the region, including producing the KOGEI HACKATHON where traditional crafts meet advanced technologies.