Kiku Obata
As Chair of the Festival’s upcoming Gala, The Tempest Ball, Kiku Obata and her design team are creating a magical experience. The Gala is the Shakespeare Festival’s 10th Anniversary celebration, and it promises to be a memorable evening of theatrical surprises and unexpected encounters.
Kiku Obata has been on the Festival’s Board of Directors since 2003 and has provided, through her employee, designer Rich Nelson, the poster designs since our first Festival featuring Romeo & Juliet in 2001. In addition, she and her team spearheaded the 2008 logo redesign and created the design elements for the new Shakespeare Glen. The contemporary and colorful elements were evident in the beautiful banners along Fine Arts Drive and the redesigned donor banners along the bike path leading into the Glen, as well as in the vibrant tent colors.
“What I love about the Festival is that it appears in the park in the spring, puts on this amazing professional theatre, and then disappears. It’s a wonderful serendipitous moment of encountering live theatre in the park,” Obata said. The Gala is a continuation and a development of that feeling – magical things that appear mysteriously.
Kiku, a native St. Louisan, founded design firm Kiku Obata & Co. in St. Louis in 1977. Her offices are atop the Pageant in the Loop. Although she has many years of experience as a creative designer, she has never worked on a Gala before. “A Gala is outside the realm of my general activities, but really, it is what I do every day,” she said. Initially her responsibility as a member of the Gala committee was to design the invitations, but “we needed someone to steer the idea for this big gala, to get people to think and transform their thinking. Somebody threw my name in the hat, and I was excited to accept the position.”
That is how her design process works. Her company creates a project team, and the most important activity is collecting the right people for each team. “So much of what we do is about new ideas and new concepts and creating the next thing for people to experience, whether it’s retail or restaurants or districts or places,” she said. Business is starting to pick up again after the economic downturn. In becoming the Chairperson, Kiku is giving not only of her own enormous talent, but also of the talent she has collected at her company. Joining her in the design process is Carlos Zamora, whose beautiful video offers an advance look at the ambience that will surround those attending. Other members of her team include the Festival’s Gala Committee.
“How do we get people excited about something? That’s my job here.” We are so lucky to have her!
Kiku Obata
As Chair of the Festival’s upcoming Gala, The Tempest Ball, Kiku Obata and her design team are creating a magical experience. The Gala is the Shakespeare Festival’s 10th Anniversary celebration, and it promises to be a memorable evening of theatrical surprises and unexpected encounters.
Kiku Obata has been on the Festival’s Board of Directors since 2003 and has provided, through her employee, designer Rich Nelson, the poster designs since our first Festival featuring Romeo & Juliet in 2001. In addition, she and her team spearheaded the 2008 logo redesign and created the design elements for the new Shakespeare Glen. The contemporary and colorful elements were evident in the beautiful banners along Fine Arts Drive and the redesigned donor banners along the bike path leading into the Glen, as well as in the vibrant tent colors.
“What I love about the Festival is that it appears in the park in the spring, puts on this amazing professional theatre, and then disappears. It’s a wonderful serendipitous moment of encountering live theatre in the park,” Obata said. The Gala is a continuation and a development of that feeling – magical things that appear mysteriously.
Kiku, a native St. Louisan, founded design firm Kiku Obata & Co. in St. Louis in 1977. Her offices are atop the Pageant in the Loop. Although she has many years of experience as a creative designer, she has never worked on a Gala before. “A Gala is outside the realm of my general activities, but really, it is what I do every day,” she said. Initially her responsibility as a member of the Gala committee was to design the invitations, but “we needed someone to steer the idea for this big gala, to get people to think and transform their thinking. Somebody threw my name in the hat, and I was excited to accept the position.”
That is how her design process works. Her company creates a project team, and the most important activity is collecting the right people for each team. “So much of what we do is about new ideas and new concepts and creating the next thing for people to experience, whether it’s retail or restaurants or districts or places,” she said. Business is starting to pick up again after the economic downturn. In becoming the Chairperson, Kiku is giving not only of her own enormous talent, but also of the talent she has collected at her company. Joining her in the design process is Carlos Zamora, whose beautiful video offers an advance look at the ambience that will surround those attending. Other members of her team include the Festival’s Gala Committee.
“How do we get people excited about something? That’s my job here.” We are so lucky to have her!