The creative world lost a great talent last week. Sadly, Nagi Noda, the Japanese artist/designer/art director, (and most recently fashion designer) as well as the creator of hanpanda, passed away on Sunday, September 7, 2008. She was only 35.

Noda had experienced ongoing complications related to a bad car accident last year that resulted in chronic pain. The exact cause of death was not specified.

Sheila Stepanek, CEO/EP Partizan US, who represented Noda, says that Noda passed “in her Mark Ryden dress, Chanel boots, perfect make-up with Viktor & Rolf lace black eye lashes.”

Noda was best known in the ad industry for her fantastic “Sentimental Journey” clip for Japanese pop star Yuki, which featured multiple “analog” clones of the singer and was featured in Saatchi’s 2006 New Directors Showcase.

However, her recent fashion collaboration with artist Mark Ryden and her ‘hair hats’ are what I will always remember and if you never saw either of them, I’d like to share them with you here.

Shot by photographer Kenneth Cappello this past April (shown seated below on the far right), her hair hats are hair shaped into various animals.

Her foray into fashion with Mark Ryden gave us some fabulous clothes and some unforgettable branding:

Most recently she collaborated with ultra popular artist Mark Ryden to come out with a clothing label named Broken Label, sold at Colette in Paris. Below are some of the pieces from their line:

And some ads for the brand (note the meat on the floor on the ads – very Mark Ryden):

And here are some pics from her own online diary that break my heart:

Bio:

See more of her work here. And her music videos here.

May she forever rest in peace.