After graduating from the Department of Graphic Design at Tama Art University, Yu WATANABE worked as an Art Director at an advertising agency. Through various projects in his career, he became interested in the relationship between creativity and social issues such as climate change. He consequently enrolled in the MA Material Futures program at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, UK.
Yu’s research focuses on how design can function to address increasingly complex social issues through colliding different perspectives, materials, technology, and science. While utilising his professionally trained ability to communicate effectively through advertising, he has been exploring how design can function in various aspects, not only in graphics, but also through materials, products, and other areas.
He contributes to people, culture, and nature by discovering the value of things from both a future-oriented perspective and a problem-solving mindset, and by appropriately converting and communicating these innovative solutions to society.
Most recently, Yu has been exploring the value and modes of expression of Urushi, a traditional Japanese natural lacquer. Through this ongoing research, he investigates how its material, cultural, and ecological significance can be reinterpreted and expanded within contemporary design and material practices.
Yu was crowned the Overall Home Competition Winner of the Only Natural 2025 Student Design Competition for his project Symbiosis Garden – a collection of vases crafted using Urushi.
