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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.
The foundation of Shiseido
laid over a century ago, its pioneering spirit that combines eastern
aesthetics with western science and business technology, continues to
live on today to serve as the underlying philosophy of Shiseido's
corporate activities
Shiseido began forming its "chainstore"
network in 1923. Storeowners were provided special training to assure
that consumers across the nation could enjoy products and service of
consistent high standards. The network has grown to approximately
25,000 outlets today.
On June 14th, Shiseido, formerly a limited
partnership, became a joint stock company under Arinobu Fukuhara's
third son, Shinzo's leadership.
Shiseido's first president,
Shinzo Fukuhara graduated from Columbia University's Faculty of
Medicine. During his stay in the United States, from 1908, he worked at
a suburban New York drugstore and later a cosmetics factory of an
American pharmaceutical manufacturer. Under his leadership, the
groundwork for a distinctive Shiseido approach to business and creation
was formed.
The Camellia Club, a service for loyal Shiseido
customers, was founded in 1937. Coinciding with formation of the club,
Shiseido issued a fashion periodical, HANATSUBAKI (Camellia). The
magazine takes its roots from Japan's first cultural magazines by a
cosmetics company, which were issued by Shiseido from 1924 for
distribution to customers through the nationwide network of
chainstores. Renamed SHISEIDO GRAPH in 1933, it became HANATSUBAKI in
1937.
HANATSUBAKI magazine offered articles on domestic and
overseas fashion, travel, and the arts. Essays and commentaries by
leading literary figures of the time were also featured in this
magazine, which is still issued on a monthly basis by Shiseido today.
Currently, the Japanese Camellia Club has grown to boast a membership of approximately 9 million members.
In
1957, Shiseido launched sales in Taiwan with exports to Singapore and
Hong Kong following closely after. In 1962, Shiseido expanded to Hawaii
and in 1965, it established Shiseido Cosmetics America to commence
sales in the mainland. European sales began with Italy in 1968 and
officially in Oceania with New Zealand in 1971.
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. |
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