Shiseido

Shiseido was founded in 1872, four years after the Meiji Restoration. Arinobu Fukuhara, former head pharmacist to the Japanese navy, opened Japan's first private western style pharmacy on the Ginza, the cultural and fashion hub of Japan. Concerned with the poor quality of pharmaceuticals sold to the public, Arinobu opened the Shiseido Pharmacy to introduce western-style pharmaceuticals when herbal medicine was still mainstream. This avant-garde pharmacy, which was largely research and development oriented, grew to become one of Japan's oldest surviving companies.

To support its expanding global distribution network, in 1980, Shiseido appointed French artist Serge Lutens as its international image creator.

Shiseido's history of advertising and image creation has always been one of evolution and renewal. When Shiseido sought new global imagery for its international marketing it turned in an entirely avant-garde direction, that of a collaboration with Serge Lutens who had established a reputation as a hair and makeup artist for Vogue.