Azuma Makoto in his flower workshop. Born in 1976. Flower Artist. Azuma Makoto has been in the flower business since 2002, and is an owner of the haute-couture floral shop, “JARDINS des FLEURS” in Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo. He started his career as a flower artist from 2005. Also, for 2-year limited period from April 2007 to March 2009, he ran a private gallery “AMPG” in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, Tokyo, to exhibit his private works. Later in 2009, he found an experimental laboratory “Azuma Makoto Kaju Kenkyusho” (abbr. AMKK; meaning Azuma Makoto Botanical Research Institute) and ever since then, he has been expanding art activities pursuing infinitive potential of plants. Every activity of Azuma Makoto focuses on elevating value of flowers and plants by finding unique and mysterious forms that they possess. Respecting the existence of nature and keeping its dignity, he converts and expresses these beautiful elements to aesthetic level of artwork.

Michelangelo Pistoletto portrait against his artistic work The artist (born 25 June 1933) is an Italian painter, action and object artist, and art theorist. Pistoletto is acknowledged as one of the main representatives of the Italian Arte Povera. His work mainly deals with the subject matter of reflection and the unification of art and everyday life in terms of a Gesamtkunstwerk In 1996, he founded the art city Cittadelarte – Fondazione Pistoletto in a discarded textile factory near Biella. Its objective, in brief, is “to inspire and produce a responsible change in society by means of creative ideas and projects.” Nowadays Pistoletto is particularly concerned with environmental issues, and to develop awareness about using only what we need and to create awareness about over consumption.