Koji Atelier LTD

About Koji Atelier

Koji Atelier is an haute couture house established 51 years ago in Ginza, Tokyo.

A graduate of the London College of Fashion, owner-designer Koji Watanabe presented his works in the Royal Collections of 1983, 1985, and 1989. His 1989 exhibition pieces were preserved in the Royal Museum of Scotland. In 1991, he designed a suit for Princess Anne of the United Kingdom.

His collections were exhibited in Beijing in 1998, the Italian Ambassador’s Residence in 2001, New York in 2004, Shanghai in 2010, Chengdu (China) in 2012, and the Louvre Museum in Paris in 2015. His clients include domestic and foreign royalty, members of the royal family, wives of ambassadors, wives of political and business leaders, and celebrities from various fields.

Koji Atelier and Chevening

The Watanabe family has had deep connections with the UK for decades, stretching back to Minoru Watanabe’s founding of the Ginza ICHIBANKAN Clothing Store in 1930. These ties prompted Minoru’s son Koji to consider offering young people with an interest in fashion the opportunity to study abroad in London. So he was looking for some way to support; he then came across the Chevening Scholarship Programme and identified it as an opportunity to provide more wide-ranging support.

He was looking for some way to support young people to study at the London College of Fashion.