Mitsunobu Hagino – FD Inc.

Mitsunobu Hagino is a Japanese product designer and the president of FD Inc., a design company based in Niigata. Born in Kurosaki, now part of Niigata City, he studied design at Aizu Junior College and worked in furniture manufacturing and at a planning company before going independent in 1991; FD Inc. was incorporated in 1999.

Working with factories in the Tsubame-Sanjo area, where he visits the production floors regularly, Hagino develops products that make the most of local techniques and materials, and runs the FD STYLE lifestyle brand through which he also handles sales and distribution. He is a second-class architect and a JIDA member, and his work has received the Good Design Award, the Wallpaper Design Awards and the iF Design Award.