Even though France seems to lose its Triple A rating in economy, I am sure it will never lose it in terms of creativity. Hellohikimori prove that to me.

Hellohikimori (HKI) was founded in 2004 by Nathalie Melato and David Ronhel. The name literally means “pulling away” or “being confined”, i.e. the acute social withdrawal that is on a rising trend in Japan, where reclusive people have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement because of various personal and social factors in their lives.

They work for clients like Orange Cinéma Séries, Perrier, Paco Rabanne, L’Oréal and Diesel. “Our work with Diesel is a global collaboration – we worked on different websites, including the ‘Only the Brave’ fragrance and the limited edition ‘Iron Man’ bottle design. We were also asked to develop the video concept for the launch event in Berlin.  (…)”

The word “hikimori” applies to both the sociological phenomenon in general and to the people belonging to this societal group.

The team of Hellohikimori collaborates with agencies like Ogilvy, McCann, Cutwater and Publicis. Find their outstanding website here: http://hellohikimori.com