Close followers of our programming over the years know that we have a love of presentations that, while not obviously UX-related, reveal themselves to be intriguingly relevant to what we do. We’re delighted to announce that Fluxible 2016 will feature Noriko Maeda, a Japanese contemporary calligrapher whose deft brushwork is a continuation of thousands of year of tradition.

As Noriko puts it, “Even with the cloud of information that surrounds us, and the increasingly rapid pace at which these connections bring us closer to one another, both the physical and emotional gaps that separate us seems to expand just as rapidly. In moments such as these I see a great resurgence towards the meaning of language. When we find ourselves with so much information at our fingertips, it is now more important than ever to grasp what each of these pieces mean, and to find in them an expression of our own personal positions.”

Hard not agree with that!

Somewhat more mundanely, Noriko founded a calligraphy academy “Kuran-no-Kai” in Japan in  1982, before moving to Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 1992. She has created various calligraphy pieces on interior projects with Mitsui Real Estate, Nomura Real Estate, and Tokyu Real Estates. She has also collaborated on visual artwork and logotype projects for Takeda Canada, MAC Cosmetics, and CBC. As an artist, Noriko has held exhibitions in Japan, Canada, United States, and United Arab Emirates.

We’re looking forward to learning from Noriko in September!

Stay tuned for details of Noriko’s session at Fluxible.