June 18 2024  |  Amenities & Comfort

FORMIA, Heralbony and JAL celebrate diverse perspectives one amenity kit at a time

By Jane Hobson


The FORMIA, Heralbony and Japan Airlines teams pose with the beautiful kits in Hamburg

FORMIA and Heralbony invited industry press to a special event in Hamburg celebrating the amenity kit collaboration for Japan Airlines (JAL). Along with the FORMIA team, Heralbony Co-CEO Takaya Matsuda; Megumi Kobayashi, Head of International Business at Heralbony; Tomohiro Fujio, Vice President, Japan Airlines and Kenichi Fujimoto, Senior Manager, Japan Airlines were also in attendance.

FORMIA and Heralbony first introduced the Business Class amenity kits for JAL in November 2023, officially launching on the airline’s A350-1000 aircraft in January. Passengers receive a kit featuring artwork from artists at Heralbony.

At the press event, Takaya Matsuda, Heralbony Co-CEO, explained the origins of the company which he established with his twin brother Fumito. The word Heralbony is a nod to the elder brother of the twins, named Shota. Shota was born with ASD, a type of congenital anomaly. Shota wrote the word down when he was seven, but it did not exist before, explained Matsuda. Founded in 2018, the Matsuda twins named the company Heralbony as a nod to their brother’s artistic talent, while at the same time honouring and empowering the genius of each local artist it works with.


Megumi Kobayashi, Head of International Business at Heralbony (left) and Takaya Matsuda, Heralbony Co-CEO (second from left), provide a presentation on the history of the company and its artists during the press event in Hamburg

“Having Heralbony join our team this year is such a pleasure,” said Fujio. “This story is wonderful and we at Japan Airlines are so excited to share this story with everyone. We are very honoured to work with them.”

“We are honoured to share these amazing stories and value creation around people. We are humbly just the platform in between. We live for these moments, we are very passionate about this unbelievable story,” said Roland Grohmann, CEO & Managing Partner at FORMIA, during the event.



The Heralbony kits for Japan Airlines 


The artwork is also made into a dress, modelled above

Attendees at the event learned about the artist behind the design on each of the six kits, hearing both the story that inspired the artwork and learning about the artist’s life.

Together, Heralbony and JAL are striving to change the perception of disabilities and support a society where diverse individuals are celebrated. The collaboration between the two brands has expanded to tableware designs for JAL’s First Class lounges and printed sleeves for inflight meal boxes. The curated extended product line provides a platform for the artists to showcase their talents globally.

Megumi Kobayashi, Head of International Business at Heralbony, was also in attendance, sharing the company’s story. Heralbony won the prestigious Employee Experience, Diversity & Inclusion Award granted by LVMH at the LVMH Innovation Awards 2024 at the end of May. Kobayashi attended the event hosted in Paris to accept the award.


Megumi Kobayashi, Head of International Business at Heralbony accepted the LVHM award this year (Image credit: FORMIA LinkedIn)

“We are very honoured to receive the award from LVMH this year, and we are going to expand our business outside of Japan as well,” Matsuda announced in Hamburg.

“We are delighted for Heralbony, who continue to challenge perceptions of disabilities to drive societal change,“ said FORMIA on LinkedIn of the LVMH win.

At the PAX Readership Awards ceremony in Hamburg, Japan Airlines and FORMIA received the award for Asia Business Class kit for this collaboration.

“A huge congratulations to our customer, Japan Airlines together with Heralbony for being awarded winners of the Asia Business Class amenities at the PAX International Readership Awards,” said FORMIA on LinkedIn. “A wonderful recognition of the meaningful collaboration which is providing a platform for the talented diverse artists of Japan.”

Notably, Takaya and Fumito are also recipients of the ‘Forbes 30 UNDER 30 JAPAN’ award.

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