Eiko Ishioka was a Japanese designer, famous for her outlandish and surreal designs which gave her global renown despite having to make her name in male-dominated Japan.
Ishioka, who died in 2012, is famous for designs in many adverts, famous films, albums covers and the Beijing Olympics.
Eiko Ishioka was born in Tokyo on July 12, 1938. Her father, a graphic designer himself, had initially encouraged her artistic ambitions but when she said she wanted to pursue her own career in the field he warned that she would struggle in a male-dominated culture.
Sprung from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in the early ’60s, she entered advertising through the cosmetics titan Shiseido before launching out on her own a decade later, deploying an international flair on behalf of such clients as Parco, the shopping complex chain, for which she sometimes advertised by showing no product (or clothing) at all. She was fearless in baring her avant-garde concepts.
Besides her Oscar in 1993 (for costume design on Bram Stoker's Dracula), she won recognition at the Grammys for her award-winning cover of Tutu, the 1986 Miles Davis album. Her set and costume design for the Broadway play M. Butterfly would also earned her Tony nominations in both categories.
Know more about Eiko Ishioka by reading the following dedicated articles to the late designer.
TIME.com - A New Google Doodle Celebrates the Work of Japanese Designer Eiko Ishioka
Telegraph.co.uk - Who was Eiko Ishioka and what are the designs that made her famous?
WashingtonPost.com - Eiko Ishioka: Google Doodle salutes Oscar winner who conquered both ‘Dracula’ and male-dominated advertising.