Hanato

Planning/Concept/Story/Identity/Package/Graphics

Art direction and graphic design: Studio Soona

Illustration: Fumi Morimoto

Photography: Studio Emit

Self initiative project to encourage families to learn Japanese characters in a joyful way.

STORY

Being a visual designer/artist and mother of two sons Soonhwa started with her long-time friend Fumi, a Tokyo-based illustrator the project ‘Hanato Morito’.

Hanato Morito contains the Japanese words ‘Hana’ meaning flower and ‘Mori’ meaning forest. The name reflects the pure inspiration of nature itself, that is available to all of us.

The ‘Hanato Morito’ journey set off in 2012 to develop educational tools and material with an eye on graphic design that would encourage family conversations and enhance fun and playful family time.

The first creation of the Hanato Morito project was the Hiragana Animal poster for which Fumi created 46 beautiful animal illustrations. The primary purpose of the poster is to help children in their first steps in learning the ‘Hiragana’* and making it a more fun and playful experience. Soona was inspired by her own experience when she wanted to teach her sons the hiragana alphabet. Fumi used her experience as a co-worker in an animal clinic to put character in the animal drawings and used a full range of colours to depict them. Through her observations, we notice there is so much more to see. Is the colour of the elephant just grey? And is the rooster’s tail just black? Have a close look again…

Our journey continues and while having fun, we are collecting inspiring moments that we will put into tangible experiences. For you to enjoy with friends and family, creating fond memories.

*The Japanese use three kinds of characters: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji (Chinese characters). Japanese children learn around 1000 of those characters at elementary school. Hiragana contains the 46 very basic Japanese letters.