Ayako Maeda is a multi-award winning costume designer based in Japan. She has designed numerous plays, operas, ballets, and musical productions, working with directors from all over the world. She has received many prestigious awards in Japan including the Kisaku Ito Award, Yomiuri Theater Grand Prize (10th, 25th, 28th and 30th Best Design), Kinokuniya Theatre Award, Akiko Tachibana Creative Staff Award, and more. Her recent works include Final Take, Tokyo Godfathers, and Richard II, for New National Theatre in Tokyo. She is a long-time collaborator of Amon Miyamoto, and has designed many shows for him including The Fantasticks, Urinetown, Sweeney Todd, Gray Gardens and other operas and plays. She studied under Kikuko Ogata as well as in England as an overseas trainee in receipt of a grant from the Agency of Cultural Affairs.