Leading Japanese creatives launch internationally-minded boutique

The agency’s founders comprise Naoki Ito (pictured), who was most recently ECD at Wieden + Kennedy Tokyo; Masashi Kawamura, former creative director at Wieden + Kennedy New York; Morihiro Harano, founder and creative director of Drill Tokyo; Hiroki Nakamura, a former creative director at Dentsu; and Qanta Shimizu, former technical director of IMG SRC in Tokyo.

The concept of the agency is to combine top creative talent with technical expertise. According to a statement from the newly formed company, “Party’s core philosophy is to bring technology, storytelling and creativity to a wide range of areas including products, services, social platforms, architecture and branded entertainment content”.

The name ‘Party’ is based on the idea of people gathering together for the same purpose.

In the statement, Kawamura said that the collective would aim to further strengthen the standard of creative work in Japan by opening up to foreign influence and talent. “Japan has a very high level of creative talent, but they have seldom been exposed to foreign markets,” Kawamura said. “On the other hand, there isn’t much opportunity for foreign creatives interested in the Japanese or Asian market to actively participate. We would like Party to become a hub that promotes the circulation of that talent.”

Shimizu, Party’s creative and technical director, added that he hoped to export skills that had been honed in Japan to the wider world.

The company currently has offices in Tokyo and New York, but plans to extend its reach by opening a studio in London at the end of the year.