Rika Kawato

Rika Kawato is a Tokyo-based visual director and designer whose works spans from the fields of textile, furniture and graphic design to healthcare and welfare design. Born in 1981 to a Japanese father and a Danish mother, Kawato spent her childhood in the Soviet Union, Sweden, and Japan and studied in the US, graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2011, she founded her own office, tona, and has designed textiles, for example, for the popular Japanese Nychair X chairs as well as major automobile manufacturers. She has received accolades such as the Japan Wood Design Award in 2015 and the Erik Jørgensen Design Award in 2009.