Painting the Sky: Ricoh Inkjet Technology Brings Children’s Visions to Life | Stories | Global

Held every March, Tokyo Creative Salon is Japan’s largest festival of fashion and creativity. In 2025, under the theme “QUEST: Exploring Creativity and Aesthetic Awareness,” the program unfolded across ten areas of Tokyo—including Haneda, where Ricoh joined the Colorful Sky community collaboration. We spoke with Kenta Takaya, art director for the Haneda site at Kansai Yamamoto, Inc., and Yuto Moue and Ryota Ochi from RICOH Graphic Communications about how the partnership began and how the event brought Ricoh’s commitment to Fulfillment through Work to life.

At the Haneda venue, Ricoh turned local elementary school students’ sky-themed drawings into T-shirts for a large-scale installation. With high-resolution inkjet technology and flexible small-lot production, Ricoh reproduced each child’s artwork in vivid detail. The project strengthened community ties and gave employees a meaningful opportunity to experience Fulfillment through Work in action.

As part of Tokyo Creative Salon 2025, the Haneda Sky initiative sought to connect children with the wider world through exhibitions and interactive programs—spanning traditional performing arts and fashion to sustainability—across six venues.

One of the venues was HANEDA INNOVATION CITY, a mixed-use complex near Haneda Airport. Exhibitions ran from March 13-23, culminating in the one-day Colorful Sky event on March 22, featuring a flea market, a BMX show, and dance performances.

Ricoh transformed the main street into a ribbon of sky and color. Overhead, T-shirts printed with fourth-graders’ drawings from Haneda Elementary School fluttered in the breeze, creating a vivid installation. On March 22, Ricoh also hosted a live-printing booth where visitors could choose a favorite design and have it printed on an eco-bag to take home. The scene came alive when Haneda Elementary School’s third-graders wore the T-shirts on stage for a spirited dance performance.

Plans for Ricoh’s participation in the Tokyo Creative Salon Haneda project began to take shape in late 2024.

“A Tokyo Creative Salon survey of expats in New York, Tokyo, London, Paris, and Milan ranked Tokyo second only to New York as the world’s most creative city,” Takaya explains. “Yet only 26.4% of Tokyo residents considered themselves creative—the lowest share among the cities surveyed. Japanese people are highly skilled and innovative but often lack confidence. By letting children see their drawings become art and fashion, we hoped they would feel the joy and pride of creating.”

Takaya adds that the project was also designed to highlight the appeal of HANEDA INNOVATION CITY® —a vibrant hub that blends tech offices with restaurants, foot-bath spas, and live music venues. Because the event held special meaning for Ota Ward, where Ricoh was founded, partnering with the global company felt natural. “We wanted the children to have fun, but we couldn’t do it alone,” he says. “That’s why we turned to Ricoh—its proven commercial printing technology and long-standing connection with Kansai Yamamoto made it an ideal partner.”

Yuto Moue and Ryota Ochi from RICOH Graphic Communications responded to Takaya’s request. Their business unit develops printers for the graphic arts and industrial printing fields. Moue recalls: “I was thrilled when I first heard the idea. It was meaningful to participate in a co-creation project where children could experience our printing technology.”

For the T-shirts and tote bags, Ricoh used the RICOH Pro D1600, a Direct-to-Film (DTF) inkjet printer launched in Europe in 2024 and scheduled for release in Japan this fall.
Ochi, who oversees sales, explains: “This system uses heat transfer to print from film sheets. Because it’s inkjet-based, it can output different designs in quick succession with excellent color accuracy. Unlike conventional analog printing, it doesn’t require plates, making it ideal for small-lot, multi-design production on short timelines. Durability is also excellent—perfect for this project.”

Two months before the event, Haneda Elementary School hosted a drawing workshop. Takaya and volunteer professional artists served as special instructors, giving students A3 sheets to draw their personal visions of the sky—and encouraging them to use as many colors as they liked.

“The children embraced their own ideas of what the sky could be and drew with complete freedom,” says Takaya. “I’ve taught at universities and vocational schools, but this was my first workshop with elementary students. I was a little nervous at first, but by the end of our four sessions they were begging me to come back again. It was a fantastic experience.”

Takaya also wanted the children to feel pride in their community, so he told them that Ricoh—a global company founded in Ota Ward—would print their artwork on T-shirts.

Ochi says the Ricoh team’s top priority was accurate reproduction of the children’s drawings. Takaya adds: “Blank or lightly colored areas don’t always print as expected on fabric, so we explained that during the workshop. In the end, the drawings were reproduced faithfully—colors and all.”

As the T-shirts were printed, Ochi and Moue were struck by the diversity of expression. “Each child approached the same ‘sky’ theme in a completely different way,” Ochi says. “The skies weren’t just blue—they came in every shade imaginable.”
Some drawings showed skateboarders soaring through the clouds; another depicted the aurora borealis, imagined from a mother’s travel story.

Although the event period saw bad weather—including snow—the Colorful Sky day opened bright and clear. Children and their families gathered beneath the fluttering T-shirts against the blue sky, cheering at the sight. “The teachers joined in too, finding T-shirts printed with their students’ designs,” Takaya says. “Everyone knew the drawings would become T-shirts, but they didn’t imagine seeing them displayed as art like this. It was a wonderful surprise.”

On the day, Ricoh staff enjoyed conversations with visitors. “The colorful T-shirts looked spectacular against the blue sky,” Moue recalls. “What stayed with me most was seeing children proudly point out their designs to their parents. One child recognized their design on the T-shirt I was wearing, so I took it off on the spot and gave it to them.”

Reflecting on the collaboration, Takaya says the experience reaffirmed the value of inkjet technology—printing unique items one at a time. “In the fashion world, I believe the era of mass production and mass consumption is over. Going forward, services that can quickly produce small runs with different designs on each piece will be in even greater demand.”

From their vantage point in the printing business, Moue and Ochi found it both exciting and inspiring to reproduce treasured artwork—and deliver it directly to its young creators.

For Ochi, the project provided a rare opportunity to follow the entire process—from printing to handing the finished piece to someone directly. “In our regular roles, we focus on delivering printer products, and it’s easy to lose sight of the people who use them or receive the printed materials,” he says. “This time, we saw their reactions firsthand. That perspective is something we’ll carry into everything we do.”

For Moue, the experience embodied Ricoh’s vision of Fulfillment through Work. “Seeing children’s faces light up because of our products and technology filled me with joy and renewed my motivation,” he says. “When I later visited Haneda Elementary School, the principal and teachers told me how excited and engaged the children had been. That feedback was incredibly motivating.”
For him, it confirmed that giving children the tools to reach for the sky helps their creativity soar even higher.