Okay, so the usual Artist of the Week (AotW) articles usually feature a musical artist but this week I decided to change it up a bit.  This week’s article features an individual who is widely-known for her wacky, artsy creations in the film and fashion industry.

Tokyo born Nagi Noda is a world-reknown music video/TV commercial/art advertisement director, CD jacket/graphic designer, and pop artist who “spent 5 years in New York before returning to Japan in 1987.”  Noda eventually established her own art studio “Uchu Country” in 2003 and is most notable on video-steaming sites for her 2004 short film with Mariko Takahashi featuring exercising half-poodle half-humans (Mariko Takahashi’s Fitness Video for being Appraised as an “Ex-fat Girl”).

Mariko Takahashi’s Fitness Video for being Appraised as an “Ex-fat Girl

She has even started her own fashion label “Broken Label.”  While she was in New York, she became acquainted with other designers including her two best friends ASA( ASA Bag Designer) and CINDY(LIBERTINE Designer).  Both were featured in Noda’s blogs on several occasions.

Unfortunately, on September 7, 2008 she passed away at the age of 35 because of complications due to a surgery procedure that she had after a car accident she experienced the year before.

Apparently, I’ve been a fan of her work for 2 years now without even knowing it.  She’s definately one of my favorite designers and I love her sense of style.  Her imagination has no boundaries and her work is almost entirely original.

When “Hachimitsu to Clover” aired, I watched it and was immediately pulled by the amazing detail and creativity of the food art-themed intro credit clip (the one featuring YUKI’s song “ふがいないや”).  She’s also had a big hand behind the production and design of one of my favorite promotional videos YUKI’s “Sentimental Journey.”

YUKI’s Sentimental Journey PV

In her last English blog entry, Noda wrote about how she attended the Miu Miu show wearing one of her creations a “elephant hair hat.”  Even though these “hats” aren’t very appropriate for regular public outings, they are something interesting to look at.  Apparently they are made out of some sort of molding object and meshed wire.  The shape of the animal hair hats are very detailed and neatly hand-crafted to show off the full features of the animal that they are represented.

Also, a trademark of her’s that I’ve noticed in her photos and all around her site are her “Hanpanda” characters.  According to the Hanpanda website, she owns 20 Hanpandas each 6 feet tall.  I thought that they looked awfully familiar then it came to me that I had first witnessed these cute bears on HALCALI’s promotional video “Baby Blue.”  The last bear that turns around is my favorite.

One of my favorite pieces from her:

R.I.P. Nagi Noda.
Sources:
TokyoMango:  http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/
Official Website:  http://www.uchu-country.com/
English Blog:  http://uchu-english.seesaa.net/
Hanpanda:  http://www.hanpanda.com/
Partizan:  http://www.partizan.com/