The archive · Business Models · Strategic decision · 2018–2026
HERALBONY's art-licensing model takes One Show 2026's Best of Discipline
HERALBONY manages 2,000+ artworks by artists with intellectual disabilities as licensed IP — One Show 2026 gave the whole business model its Best of Discipline.
HERALBONY Co., Ltd. · Dentsu Inc.
What it had to solve
In Japan, people with intellectual disabilities create striking, deeply personal art — yet most of it was given away almost free in exchange for donations, and artists could not make a living from it. Twin brothers Takaya and Fumito Matsuda founded HERALBONY in Morioka in 2018 after growing up with their older brother Shota, who lives with autism and a severe intellectual disability; the company's answer was not a campaign asking for sympathy but a business designed around the artists.
How it works
HERALBONY was founded in 2018 in Morioka, Japan, by twin brothers Takaya and Fumito Matsuda, whose older brother Shota lives with autism and a severe intellectual disability. Their observation: artists with intellectual disabilities were producing powerful, distinctive art, yet most of it was given away almost free in exchange for donations, so artists could not support themselves from their work.
HERALBONY's answer was structural. It manages and licenses more than 2,000 artworks as intellectual property, signing licensing agreements directly with each artist and their welfare institution and paying royalties whenever a work is used. Rather than commissioning new work on deadline, it licenses finished pieces at the artist's own pace — putting their recurring patterns and visual languages onto scarves, dresses, lifestyle goods, hotel interiors, airline amenities and corporate collaborations.
Dentsu joined as creative partner in 2021 and the two companies formed a 'Future Creative Partnership', shaping the whole enterprise into one brand narrative under the tagline 'Beyond Labels' — the idea that art by people with disabilities is not charity to be pitied but creativity that belongs in daily life. A Paris subsidiary, HERALBONY EUROPE, opened in July 2024 to sign artists across the continent.
In 2026 HERALBONY and Dentsu entered the company itself — business model, products and narrative as one work — into The One Show under the title 'Beyond Labels'. It won the Best of Discipline Pencil in IP & Product Design, a Gold Pencil in Narrative & World-Building, and a Merit as Cultural Driver for Good, plus two Bronze Clios, with the jury explicitly recognizing the business model rather than a single campaign.
Why it lands
- Royalty-based licensing turns 'disabled artists' into professionals with recurring income, not recipients of one-off charity.
- Licensing finished works respects each artist's creative pace, so unconventional processes become an asset rather than a scheduling problem.
- Placing the art on fashion, hotels and airlines puts it into everyday life, where perception change happens, not in a welfare silo.
- Entering the whole company as a creative work let the jury judge the model's cumulative social impact instead of one execution.
What it did
The One Show 2026 awarded 'Beyond Labels' the Best of Discipline Pencil in IP & Product Design, plus a Gold Pencil for Narrative & World-Building and a Merit as Cultural Driver; the entry also won two Bronze Clio Awards. The judges recognized the business model itself rather than one campaign. Artist income has risen 25.5-fold over the company's six years — some artists by 300 times in a decade — and HERALBONY has expanded from one city to galleries and shops across Japan and France.
What you can take
To change how society values a group, build a market around their work instead of asking for pity — royalties made disability art a profession, and the model itself carried the message.
Since then
The One Show win followed a string of honors — a Cannes Lions Gold in 2025, an LVMH Innovation Award, and Japan's ACC Grands Prix — and pushed HERALBONY's global expansion: by mid-2026 the company reported contracts with about 293 artists worldwide, and its Art Prize drew submissions from 65 countries. The recognition came with the founders' older brother on stage in New York, where the brothers said the award 'did not belong to us alone' — proof that a market built around marginalized artists can reshape how society values them.
Sources
- HERALBONY Wins Best of Discipline Pencil at The One Show 2026 in New York
- Ogilvy Singapore wins three Best of Disciplines at The One Show 2026
- Dentsu × HERALBONY: Using creative power to highlight the potential of people with disabilities
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