Boris Jitsukata
Germany
CAREER Enrolled in September 2012; Completed master‘s degree in September 2014
Back in Highschool everyone told me not to study design as it supposedly would be difficult to get a well paid job later. So I decided to study business administration for my undergrads instead. Back then there was no program like KMD.
Only later the combination of business and design became more common. Today it is impossible to separate the two.
When I joined KMD in 2012, Keio actually just became a partner university in the CEMS MIM (Master’s in International Management) Programme – as the very first design school.
For me it was fantastic that I could graduate within 2 years with both a master’s in International Management and a master’s in Media Design. It was also around that time when I joined early-stage Tokyo-based design firm Goodpatch.
Fast forward 6.5 years later I am still with Goodpatch, which became Japan’s leading design firm with globally over 170 employees. Today in my role as an executive board director I oversee the global business with studios in Berlin, München and Paris. We help our clients to become more successful through design.
In the company I aim to re-create the inspiring atmosphere of grad school where everyone is building, tinkering and sharing something.
(This article was written in March 2020.)