Check Out Sayoko Osada’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sayoko Osada.

Hi Sayoko, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m originally from Tokyo, Japan. Grew up there until I turned 13, when my family immigrated to the U.S. – to Columbus, Ohio. After my family business went through bankruptcy, literally and figuratively because it was a bank, we looked for a new beginning. And very, very luckily, my father found a job in Ohio and won the green card lottery for the whole family. So we came to America.

I’d say that’s how I got started because I attribute many things to this transition. Everything from how I can even work in the United States to conceptual motifs in my creations. How all my work is multisensory language, which evolved from being lost in translation in my formative years when I couldn’t speak English. And lately, my emerging art and filmmaking practices have thematic influences from my upbringing.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has been more like a vast landscape of mountains that keep on revealing new vistas. Sure, I started with zero family connections to any of these industries, music / film / art / in America for that matter. And sure, I am non-white non-male, which apparently is a struggle factor I don’t think about day-to-day personally. As long as I know how I want to evolve, I am good, and the bumpy road is rather a nuanced texture within that journey. The part that feels more like a struggle is when I don’t know what to do. I experienced this phase twice, both lasting three years. During college, when I was studying architecture, and realized I did not want to become an architect. And then in 2020, I lost interest in what I was formerly passionate about. I am finally emerging into the light.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I work as a multidisciplinary Director and Set Designer in the industries of music, film, and fashion. I am a genre-fluid worldbuilder of various typologies, including stages, films, animations, audiovisual installations, spatial interventions, and graphic art. This is the result of my architecture background on crack.

In music this year, I directed and designed Gordo’s Coachella performance and his 8-hour set at The Brooklyn Mirage and Charlie Puth’s hit single Light Switch performances on Jimmy Kimmel & Ellen in 2022. I’ve also had the great pleasure of creating live visuals for futurist artists like Viktoria Modesta and Paperwater. In the film, I’ve worked as a Production Designer on campaigns including Nike, Ivy Park, and Band-Aid, and a few narrative/music videos in the making. This fall I’m beginning to work as a Director on both narrative and commercial films.

For my first narrative short, I adapted Natsume Sōseki’s Ten Nights of Dreams, a series of short stories chronicling his dreams in 1908, into a time-agnostic cerebral journey that puts viewers in the narrator’s shoes and explores the psyche of dreams as a processing device for your past and ego. So far, my team is three Asian women from art backgrounds, and like with most of my production; our crew will prioritize the inclusivity of talents we want to see more of in this industry. If you’re interested in hearing more and supporting this project, please contact me [email protected].

How do you define success?
When our soul is alive, we are successful. For me, success entails: staying true to my intuition, persistently finishing and moving on, and bringing up people around me as I go up.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sayokoosada.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sayokoosada/

Image Credits
Personal Images by Luis Nieto Dickens @nietodickens Gordo at Coachella Photo credit: Adam Rodriguez Ivy Park Campaign Photo credit: Driely S Viktoria Modesta at European Para Championships Photo credit: IMAGO / ANP Nike Leo Baker Campaign Photo credit: Sayoko Osada