A Mini Autobiography

of a Japanese OG - Tadashi Kariya

Translation by Yuki Kariya

I am the director and president of Design Lab Inc. located in Gifu, next to Nagoya City, right in the middle of Japan.

I think there are many people who don’t know much about me so, I would like to tell you a little about myself since I started working in this market.

In 1998, I dropped out of university and got a part-time job at the sign production company that my father used to run.

Around that time, the era of writing letters with paint succumbed to cutting and installing letters with marking film.

I was originally good at crafts, so I was able to install the film by imitating it, at the time, the old craftsmen were unable to install the film so I was quite helpful to them.

In 2002, a Japanese acquaintance who went to see the Geneva Motor Show told me that there was a car on display that had been wrapped in a matte black, but I couldn’t believe it. I asked this friend who was going to the show next year to see if there were any cars that had been wrapped.

Then, he found a vehicle wrapped in matte black and matte white.

At that time, I had experience wrapping buses and trucks such as corrugate, but I had no experience in fully wrapping regular vehicles, so I was unsure whether it would really be possible to fully wrap a vehicle with film.

I had confidence in installing films on signs and windows, so I thought, “Isn’t it possible for me to do that?” I felt uneasy.

In 2005, I had a little money with me, I bought a Ferrari F355 and started participating in Ferrari one-make races.

2007, I suddenly remembered the wrapped cars at the Geneva Motor Show and decided to try wrapping my own car.

However, at that time, a 60-inch wrapping film did not exist in Japan, so I decided to try wrapping with matte black calendar film for sign boards.

I didn’t have the skill to wrap the inside of the light and the mirror, so I didn’t wrap that part, but I managed to complete the full wrapping by myself in a week. At the same time in a Ferrari race, I received many offers from Ferrari owners participating in the race to have their cars wrapped in matte black as well. But the edges of my car had curled up after one race, and the film had shrunk due to exhaust heat, so it was not something I could accept orders for, so I started researching wrapping methods.

After repeatedly reapplying the peeled matte black film on the F355 and testing it to see if it would withstand driving.

In 2009 I bought a new Ferrari F360, and this time I fully wrapped it in cast film for sign boards. I managed to wrap it well enough to sell it.

Then, In 2010, a 60-inch wrapping film appeared in Japan, and at that time main orders were full wrapping of racing cars. The reason for this is that people in general were still reluctant to pay for car wrapping.

I was only researching the technique of wrapping mostly as a hobby before I could turn it into a business, but in 2012, a big opportunity came up to me.

We received a request to wrap the Lamborghini Murcielago that will be exhibited by Liberty Walk in gold chrome at the 2013 Tokyo Auto Salon.

At that time, AVERY and HEXIS were not selling Chrome vinyl yet, so I wrapped it with Chrome film made in Japan for signs.

However, this wrapping was so difficult that I wanted to give up many times, but then I started using a steamer to stretch the Chrome vinyl.

Nowadays, a steamer is used to install Chrome and PPF, but I was probably the first to use a steamer for wrapping.

When the vehicle was completed and exhibited, Facebook started to become popular around the world, and I was introduced to the photos and the articles posted on the web, and I was suddenly recognized as the leading expert in the wrapping industry in Japan.

Currently, I’m recognized as a TWI-certified instructor in Japan. I regularly hold classes on wrapping, PPF, windshields, etc., and focus on expanding the wrapping market and training.

In addition, our work includes the production and construction of signboards, color changes for general vehicles, design and wrapping of PPF, windshields, racing cars, and wrapping of concept cars and show cars such as Toyota and Mitsubishi Motors.

On a different note, I have been visiting the SEMA Show every year since 2010.

In 2011, I had a fateful encounter at SEMA. I came across Knifeless Tape at the 3M booth.

At that time, skilled craftsmen in Japan could do a half-cutting, but our female staff needed more confidence in half-cutting, so we decided to use this tape. They thought that they could wrap with confidence, and immediately started importing the tape to Japan.

After that, I expanded sales of Knifeless tape in Japan, and by 2013, my shop became the third biggest seller of Knifeless tapes. Also, Knifeless tape brought me another luck.

My car, which was designed and wrapped utilizing Knifeless tape, was chosen for the cover image of the 2016 Knifeless package. I think this is the opportunity to let wrappers around the world get to know me, a person from Japan who doesn’t speak English very well.

Also, from around that time, I brought a lot of Japanese-made wrapping tools to SEMA and gave away them to many installers and current MOB members. It became the foundation of the PPF SHOP that I run as a professional tool website shop.

Now, PPF SHOP provides tools all over the world mainly in America and Europe.

Currently, I am the first president of the Japan Car Wrapping Association (JCWA), which I founded and established. The organization organizes World Wrap Masters JAPAN, JAPAN PPF championships, and prepares to send athletes to overseas competitions such as the Wrap Olympics. JCWA was established to foster the next generation of engineers, exchange information, set up insurance exclusively for car wrapping, and expand the market in Japan.

Through my experiences such as winning the Wrap Olympics in 2018 and participating in the World Wrap Masters, I have made many friends from all over the world, and when I became a MOB member, those members promoted my tools, which they think are good, helped me a lot.

For me, it was a miracle being allowed to become a member of MOB.