member
CEO
Takuma Honyashiki
He is a founder and CEO of the playknot. He has worked throughout area of planning and execution of marketing strategy for more than 10years.
Prior to establishment of playknot, he was at one of the largest advertising agency in Japan, Hakuhodo inc. He was responsible for marketing planning, media planning and content design for a variety of clients including daily necessities manufacture, beauty company, automotive manufacture, SNS platformer, and apparel company. Prior to that, he engaged overseas marketing at Toyota motor corporation that is largest company in Japan, where he was in charge of the US and Indonesian markets, working on market analysis, production planning and marketing strategy planning for those countries. Takuma received a bachelor’s degree from Hokkaido University. A dad who is balancing child care and business management.
His motto is “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning” – Albert Einstein
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CEO
Kyohei Yamaguchi
He founded playknot with Takuma believing potential and future of XR. Prior to establishing playknot, he was member of XR startup and engaged with marketing planning, business development utilizing XR for automobile manufacture, large retail company. Prior to that, he founded company in Mexico which he distributed Japanese TV programs to Mexico’s national broadcaster, TV Azteca and also served as a commercial producer for Japanese electronics company, Pioneer Corporation when they broadcasted commercial in Latin America. He started his career in Keyence that is one of the largest manufactures of automation sensors and machine vision systems in Japan. He was responsible for corporate sales and achieving higher result.
His motto is “If dogs run free, then why not we” – Bob Dylan
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COO
Masaki Aoyama
He is a expert for digital marketing especially area of media development. Prior to joining playknot, he was CMO of D2C Startup, TENTIAL. He oversaw marketing strategy/tactics, product development, CRM operation and contributed to rapid growth of the company from seed round to series A.
Prior to that, he experienced media growth from start-up to selling in variety of media channel, including You tube channel getting 10 million views per month and entertainment web media “Crazy” and other web media as well. At current , he is also working on digital marketing consulting for variety of clients including apparel company, entertainment company, food manufacturers, daily necessities manufacture, human resources agency, wellness company, and tourism company.
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CTO
You
He brings expertise on cutting-edge technology for AR/VR/MR development.
He has experienced area of XR development for more than 10years and has extensive knowledge on upstream to downstream in the system development including application development for various OS, server-side front-end and back end development, and UI/UX design.
He engaged with XR development for telecommunications companies, TV stations, construction company, major musical instrument manufacture.
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CSO
Masanobu Yahiro
In Accenture, he is responsible for management and brand strategy, marketing innovation, new business development, and service design.
He has a proven track record in a wide range of areas, including new business launches, organizational design/management, JV establishment, brand concept design, and tech seeds-driven product development. In the past, he has worked as an editor for a culture magazine, a planner for an advertising company, and a Japan Lead for a U.S. startup.
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Visual Designer
Yu Hiraoka
Visual designer based in Italy.
After graduating from Politecnico di Milano with a degree in design, he worked for a design firm in Milan for 5 years.
As a designer, he has won numerous international design competitions.
He also works as a digital artist, focusing on NFT and AR since 2021.
2017 | 2nd Prize | Porada International Design Award
2017 | Silver Prize | A’ Design Award and Competition 2016 – 2017
Such as.
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2D・3D Generalist / Producer / Character Designer
Bruno Leni (atKOMBI)
Born in Mendoza, Argentina in 1986.
In 2011, he moved to the UK and participated in various projects at a local video production company.
After returning to Argentina, he worked as a 3D generalist at a local animation production company in Mendoza.
In 2014, he moved to Japan. Worked for a CG production company in Tokyo.
In 2016, he started his activities as atKOMBI.
With his experience as a generalist, he is currently working on a wide range of activities such as character design, illustration, 2D/3DCG animation production, and production.
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Takafumi Kondo
Past work:
Ultraman Tiga / Zoids Fusers / Bottoms / Onimusha 2 / Nepos Napos / Digital Tokoro-san
Plug-in development for After Effect (Visual C) / Simple distributed rendering tool (Visual C) / Plug-in development for 3D software Maya
Experience:
Studied under Yoichiro Kawaguchi, a legend in the Japanese CG industry, when he was a student.
Worked in CG programming and multimedia.
・Visual Science Laboratory Co.
・Dream Pictures Studios, Inc.
・Polygon Pictures Inc.
・Shogakukan Music and Digital Entertainment Inc.
・Answer Studio Co.
・Zen Co.
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3DCG・VFX Designer / XR Director
Takeki Higuchi
With a wealth of experience in CG and VFX production, Higuchi saw the potential of XR/Metaverse, and with his communication skills and knowledge of CG, he also serves as XR Development Director.
[MV] YOUYA – “Interstellar”
[PV] Fujifilm Astalift Jelly Aquarysta Campaign
[MV] YOUYA – “Ghost”
[PV/MV] Reebok × Saliva Qi
[MV] NHK “Chikochan ni scoldareru” Planetarium video
etc.
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3DCG Modeler
Schrödinger
He started touching Blender when he was a student and taught himself 3DCG.
After completing graduate school, he started working as an electrical engineer.
In 2013, he started a full-fledged doujinshi activity of 3DCG character creation as a hobby, and is still continuing his creative activities in parallel with his main job.
Recently, he has been creating VR avatars of his own original designs, and he has also taught himself Python and developed his own Blender add-on.
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Freelance 3D Modeler
Sakusensanbou
Started freelance 3D modeler in 2018.
In September 2019, he took charge of 3DCG modeling for Vtuber “Mai Kamigaya”.
https://twitter.com/maikamigaya
In August 2021, worked on costumes for corporate avatars at Virtual Market 6.
https://winter2021.vket.com/credit
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Enviroment / Weapon Artist
AGE Sawamura
TBD
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Generalist
Shuji Ishimizu
Became independent in 2015.
Founded company in 2017
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Digital Designer
Kurata-san
Experienced in various digital designs such as brand sites, corporate sites, e-commerce sites, and apps.
Her design and art direction work focuses on user-friendly design for consumers, communication design that resonates with them, and design that brings out the “character” of a company or brand.
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Digital Designer
Yuichiro Suzuki
After working for several design companies since 2006, he became independent in 2015. Currently freelance in design, art direction, and front-end implementation.
https://www.szkychr.com/
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Digital Designer
Yuichi Yoshimura
Born in Kumamoto Prefecture in 1994.
While a student at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU), he worked as a video creator.
After graduating, he joined MicroAd Inc., a CyberAgent group company, as a creative director and launched the creative division.
In 2018, he became a UI/UX designer as an initial member of alma Inc. which operates “Cocoda”, a place where you can meet design processes and design teams from around the world.
He then started STUDIO web production in earnest from the release of STUDIO 2.0 and became an early STUDIO BRAND ambassador.
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Photographer
Daiki Ono
Born in 1986 in Osaka.
Studied under photographer Yoshihiro Sasaki in 2013.
His advertising work includes UNIQLO, Wacoal, LIXIL, Pomalo, inglewood, etc.
http://onodaiki.com/about/
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Content Marketing
NISHIYO TEPPEI
NISHIYO TEPPEI designs SNS-specific content by utilizing his expertise in planning and producing PR content for major companies, with a focus on video planning.
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Editor / Back Office
Yuri Shimizu
Born in Kawasaki City, Japan.
Spent serious elementary school years, and played around in junior high and high school.
Mother of three children. Hobbies are playing the piano and nail art. Nail painting.
She is in charge of the back office at playknot.
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Calligrapher
Ayumi Muramatsu
Born January 15, 1991 in Omaezaki City, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Dropping out the University of Tsukuba, Faculty of Art and Design.
She has studied calligraphy since childhood and has received numerous awards.
She selected for the Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition in the field of engraving.
In 2016, she released his original work, “Japanese Scented Calligraphy,” a fusion of calligraphy and aroma candle technology.
In 2020, she invented “Nurie-moji®,” an educational drill for children to learn beautiful calligraphy while strengthening their visuospatial cognitive skills. In calligraphy, she emphasizes the beauty of space and the beauty of blank spaces, and is active in passing on the culture of calligraphy, as well as her works.
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Music Producer / Composer / Arranger
Junichi Hoshino
Junichi Hoshino is a hit producer who has worked with various artists such as Aimyon, Every Little Thing, GReeeeN, Supernova, V6, Ayaka Hirahara, Becky♪#, and many more.
He is also the representative of Sound Kitchen Inc.
He has collaborated with a wide range of artists and songwriters not only in Japan but also overseas.
In 2018, he produced Minmi’s album “identiy,” a collaboration between Minmi and rapper AK69, and co-wrote a song with Marty James, a songwriter who worked on Justin Bieber’s Despacito and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Record at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. The album was named Best Music Album of 2018 by Music Magazine.
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Unity Engineer
Hoang Viet Duc
He is in charge of game development and 3D modeling, as well as the development of a virtual museum in Vietnam.
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C# Engineer
Nguyen Van Phong
Develops games, commerce services, enterprise management systems, etc. He specializes in full-stack development including C#.
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UX Development Programmer
Dam Tuan Hung
He has directed the development of a wide range of technologies, including a buy/sell matching platform and an automated sizing calculation system.
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Blockchain Engineer
Ngo Cong Tuyen
Responsible for animation and UI of many services, systems and games, including blockchain games.
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Service Design / UX Design
Dinh Tien Chuong
He has been involved in the design and interface design of various services such as e-money systems and large-scale e-commerce.
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