Born the last son of a radical preacher man outside of Chicago, James Heaton grew up in Florida. He left the U.S. at 19 for an 8 year odyssey in Asia where, among other things, he became a Theravadan Buddhist monk, a student of the master calligrapher Murakami Santo, fluent in Japanese and proficient in Chinese, earned degrees in fine art photography and East Asian History from Eckerd College and finally, Art History at Kyoto University Graduate School.
His first job was as a photographer and writer for Rasen-sha, the boutique Kyoto-based ad agency run by the avant-garde thinker Takeda Yoshifumi. He contributed photographs and essays in Japanese to projects published in Esquire Japan, Seven Seas Magazine, 03 Tokyo Calling, and the Kyoto Journal, where he was a Contributing Editor for many years.
Visiting friends in New York in 1991, he finally found his true home. In New York, he entered the studio of the artists and philosophers Arakawa Shusaku and Madeline Gins, where he worked on Helen Keller or Arakawa (Burning Books, 1994), Ubiquitous Site – Nagi’s Ryoanji at the Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art, Site of Reversible Destiny – Yoro Park, Gifu, Japan, and the Guggenheim Museum retrospective exhibition. In 1996 he founded and published the art magazine, The Exhibitionist, which was distributed nationally, but which he chose to shut down after a year, converting that business into a design company. From 1998 to 2006 the company acted as a subcontractor to New York advertising agencies, doing work for Digitas, Euro, Saatchi & Saachi and many others. In the end of 2006, the company went direct to client.
James Heaton and Tronvig Group have worked for clients in a wide variety of business and non-profit categories including arts, aviation, educational, fashion & apparel, financial services, health, home, insurance, legal, media & publishing, museums, non-profit (charities, community organizations, funds, think tanks), real estate, small business, technology, and others.
Calm and personable, yet passionate about ideas and focused on the issues at hand, James Heaton leads Tronvig Group and its creative team with a combination of roving curiosity, sharp-minded analysis, and gentile encouragement. He is able to inspire those working for him to consistently achieve creative insight for the benefit of Tronvig Group’s clients.
James has developed an effective brand philosophy based on the power and efficiency of truth. He speaks on branding and social media, and blogs on the Tronvig Group website.
