Design 21: Social Design Network

Sali Sasaki

Born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1976 and raised in Paris, France.

Sali Sasaki is a founding partner at FCI, a design consultancy focused on the creative transformation of places through design. As a design researcher and practitioner, she positions herself at the crossroads of communication design, urban development and socio-cultural studies.

Sali is currently co-producing an online documentary that emphasizes design, local skills and culture across the United States in 35 pre-selected cities. Cities x Design is a 35-city nationwide documentary of how creativity is reshaping American city-scapes, transforming people and places and defining what it means to be unique.

Her ongoing research "Retail Therapy" on the role of design in the souvenir industry led to the 2008 Design DNA workshop which took place at the International Design Center in Nagoya.

Between 2005 and 2008, Sali managed UNESCO's Creative Cities Network, whilst focusing more particularly on the role of design in international development. Her paper entitled "Graphic Design for Development" which included case-studies of design-related projects in the UN system was selected at the Seoul Design Olympiad in 2008. More recently, she wrote a paper and produced a video presentation on the Creative Cities Network for the Korean Ministry of Culture in Seoul.

At the start of her UN career she worked as the creative events organizer for the United Nations Pavilion during the Aichi World Exhibition in Japan where the UN's 60th anniversary was celebrated in presence of international artists listed in UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Sali holds an MA in communication design from London's Royal College of Art and a BFA in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design. She currently lives in Miami, FL.