Commoner Profile: 10 Questions for Loftwork’s Chiaki Hayashi
You’ve seen the cover illustrations of the iCommons Lab Report over the last three months, which reflect the hot topics, issues and events that are the talk-of-the-commons, in an exciting, colourful and varied way.
These illustrations are made possible thanks to an incredibly supportive company based in Japan, called Loftwork. Every month we work closely with a Loftwork illustrator, to conceptualise and create a cover that is eye-catching, yet thought provoking and relevant. These images are donated to the commons by Loftwork, under a CC Attribution licence, so please feel free to reuse and remix them.
So, while the name ‘Loftwork’ does ring a bell, we know they’re from Japan, and we know they provide iCommons with a fascinating front cover every month - but what is Loftwork actually about, and who drives this organisation? Well, this month we found out more about Chiaki Hayashi, a visionary businesswoman, commons supporter, and co-founder of Loftwork.
1. To begin - what is Loftwork?
Loftwork is a leading creative agency in Japan with more than 7 000 registered creators, including web and graphic designers, illustrators, photographers and fine artists.
With such a wide network, Loftwork offers a creator-matching service for companies who are in need of artists for their projects. We manage the creator-matching process through a database, where Loftwork staff can search for suitable creators with various search options, arranged by price range, portfolios, work reference and artists’ capability with certain software. Loftwork also provides various creative solutions.
2. What motivated you to start Loftwork?
In 1999, I was living in New York, working as a business reporter for a Japanese newswire service. When I did research about eBay, I was so impressed by its business model. Matching people’s needs, particularly over the internet, generates new value for goods, and that sounded so wonderful to me. When I thought of the market in Japan, I realized that we were missing opportunities there for providing creative works. Thus, I decided to found Loftwork with my friend in 2000.
3. How did you gather the many creators - illustrators, designers and artists, under Loftwork’s wings?
As we were just a tiny venture company, we didn’t use any advertising, but expanded our network only through word-of-mouth communication. Loftwork focuses on the benefits for creators, avoiding any non-core business opportunities such as putting ads on the site.
I believe that this attitude has gained us trust from our creators. Now 7,400 professional creators are registered.
4. That is an interesting approach, as I think many would consider advertising as ‘core’ to their business ‘ tell us more about this model.
Our focus is to provide useful information and tools for creators. That focus sometimes creates conflicts with advertisers. Traditionally adverts should be placed in the best position on the website, but we believe creators’ latest activities deserve this spot. In addition, by not accepting adverts on our site, we can concentrate on providing information that is valuable for creators.
5. What motivated you to adopt CC licences for use by Loftwork?
One of the big issues to overcome when dealing with creators’ work is copyright. Existing copyright law is too protective and complicated. On the other hand, no restrictions would mean putting creators in danger of getting ripped off. When I was trying to find a solution, I discovered CC. It is quite a practical option, which enables creators to distribute their works widely and become popular.
6. So how are the licences used?
As I mentioned previously, providing a secure place for creators’ activity is a good enough reason for Loftwork to adopt CC. We use CC for freely downloadable content for non-business clients from loftwork.com. However, we have a challenge to use CC for commercial, paid-for creations. If it works, CC would help us reduce costs for legal affairs. Loftwork will keep accommodating CC for both non-commercial and commercial creations, and using CC licences in the business field is our next hurdle.
7. Tell us about a current ’sharing’ culture amongst creators in Japan?
A good example of a remarkable sharing culture in Japan, is seen in the Manga field, which is a Japanese comic drawing style. “Comic Market” is held in Tokyo twice a year, where more than 400 000 people gather and share their amateur works (people call them “otaku’). Most of their works are remixes of popular Mangas. It is quite a unique sharing culture in Japan.
8. What is your background? Business or art? Or both?
Business. (You don’t want to see my drawings!)
Seriously, business people are complementary to creators because they are capable of dealing with what creators tend to overlook or just can’t seem to handle. Thus, Loftwork is not a “creators guild” but a “creators support unit”.
9. What do you think can be done to better unify the relationship between art and business?
We need to foster artists by letting them understand that art should be business - art flourishes not only through non-monetary activities, such as corporate philanthropy, but also by business activities such as art auctions, Mangas and such. If there is value to an artwork, it can be transformed into money. Thus, it’s not difficult to make business from art, like we have.
10. What has the process of creating the monthly cover illustrations for the iCommons Lab Report taught you? What value has it added to Loftwork?
Our activities were limited to Japan until we started these types of CC collaboration. At the beginning, we were worried that what we think is good might not be seen as such by the rest of the world. After providing three cover illustrations, we are getting more confident with our creations, and we are becoming more conscious of the commons out there.
Chiaki’s Favourites
Food: Strawberries
Artist: Fine artist Yayoi Kusama
Holiday destination: New York
Friday evening activity: Drinking, eating and dating
Hobby: I love reading books so much!
Photograph: Chiaki Hayashi, by chiaki0808, CC BY 2.0Â