Seattle's covered in Shogo Ota's art — even the gin aisle
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Artist Shogo Ota recently created new labels for the Old Log Cabin Distillery. Photos: Christine Clarridge/Axios
From coffee cups and hockey jerseys to gin bottles and a best-selling World Cup poster, artist Shogo Ota's playful designs have become an integral part of Seattle's visual landscape.
Why it matters: Ota's work isn't tucked away in galleries. It's on the streets, in local businesses and at sporting events, offering Seattle new points of pride and serving as a reminder of the Pacific Northwest's creative energy.
State of play: The Camano Island-based artist's host-city poster for the 2026 FIFA World Cup was named best among all 16 tournament cities by Sports Illustrated in June.
- "Seattle's World Cup poster perfectly embodies the natural beauty of Seattle, incorporating engaging artistic styles and iconography, complemented by a vibrant colour scheme that plays off the local Seattle Sounders FC rave green," wrote journalist Ben Steiner.
- Ota likes Houston's, but says FIFA told him his is the best-selling.
"It's very humbling," Ota tells Axios. "I'm grateful to be part of the Seattle art community."
Zoom out: The poster joins a long list of high-profile projects that reflect Ota's range, including:
- A Kraken jersey, a Sounders scarf and a poster for the Reign.
- Murals, from a 40-foot-long peacock in the University District and a bird of prey at Lumen Field, to others in Burien, Mill Creek, Portland, Indianapolis, New York and Japan.
His breakthrough was the Starbucks' 2016 unity cup, based on his poster — drawn in one continuous line — of hundreds of people from his life: family, friends, colleagues, his grandmother and his firstborn son.
- "It means we are all connected. Be nice to each other, don't fight," Ota explains.
- But the release of the green cup just before the 2016 election sparked controversy and made him a target of hate, he says.
- Still, it was a big win for his newly launched studio, showcasing his work and leading to mural projects around the world.
Yes, but: Even with success and 20 years under his belt, Ota says — like many artists he knows — he worries continuously about "the next project and the next bill."
The latest: One of Ota's newest ventures pairs art with spirits, designing the gin and vodka labels for Seattle's Old Log Cabin Distillery as part of a rebrand by owners John Fisk and Andy Heily, the latter of Krusteaz pancake fame.
- The labels are siblings and, like much of Ota's work, densely packed with Northwest imagery: the gin bottle sails above the surface with ferries, gulls, the city skyline and Mount Rainier, while the vodka label dives below to orcas, salmon, seals and seaweed.
- Fisk tells Axios the company's distributors report the $25 works of functional art are flying off the shelves.
Flashback: Ota came to the U.S. at college age when he was "failing at all the universities in Japan," he tells Axios.
- He landed at the University of Idaho, where he majored in business economics until a friend told him he "looked like an artist."
- Ota thought that "sounded really cool" and switched to fine arts.
- After an internship at a graphic design studio in Greenwood, he launched Tireman Studio.
The bottom line: If you live in Seattle, you've probably seen Ota's work even if you didn't know his name.