HERALBONY | HERALBONY Art Prize | 2025
The world recognized "brilliant disorder" / HERALBONY "HERALBONY Art Prize"
A venture company from Iwate won Gold at Cannes Lions, in the "Glass: The Lion for Change" category. This is the story of HERALBONY, a company that has treated art by artists with intellectual disabilities not as charity, but as business.
The problem
Twin brothers Matsuda Takaya and Matsuda Fumito founded the company in Morioka in 2018. Takaya grew up watching his older brother, who has an intellectual disability and is four years his senior. The company's origin traces back to the shock Takaya felt when he encountered paintings by artists with disabilities at the Rumbini Art Museum. "The work was so cool, it deserved to be shown in a cool way." He insisted on bringing disability art to the world not as welfare, but as business.
The insight
What they did was turn artists from people who are "supported" into "business partners." While the original artworks stayed with the artists themselves, the company licensed the art data to companies, creating ongoing income. For some artists, wages that once came to less than 10,000 yen a month grew to amounts that required filing tax returns. This idea was expanded even further through an international art award: the HERALBONY Art Prize.
The idea
The prize is open to professionals and amateurs alike, regardless of nationality or age. The grand prize carries 3 million yen in prize money, and works that win corporate awards are sometimes actually turned into products. More than 4,500 entries in total came in from 72 countries and regions. At the award ceremony, experiences like "wearing a suit for the first time" or "flying on a plane for the first time" feed into the artists' next works. The company brought this entire system to Cannes.
What happened
In June (6) 2025, it won Gold in the "Glass: The Lion for Change" category at Cannes Lions. In October (10) of the same year, it received the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award at the ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS, and in 2024 it became the first Japanese company to be a finalist for the LVMH Innovation Award.
Afterthought
The word "brilliant disorder" comes from "Heralbony," a word his brother once wrote down in a notebook. Not charity, not support, but facing artists as business partners. That straightforward approach was recognized at the world's leading advertising festival. This brilliance will keep shining.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2025
