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Jérémy "Smith Pearlson" de Champris is a French multidisciplinary artist, character designer, graphic designer, and music composer.
Jérémy "Smith Pearlson" de Champris is a French multidisciplinary artist, character designer, graphic designer, music composer, and former audio engineer whose work combines visual arts, music, and Japanese-inspired creative storytelling.
From an early age, he developed an interest in drawing, music, graffiti, and motorsport, and later pursued professional training in audio engineering at the SAE Institute in Dubai. Alongside his studies, he performed as a guitarist and bass guitarist.
A significant turning point in his life came in November 2014 when a severe motorcycle accident resulted in extensive brain injuries, a prolonged coma, single-sided deafness, diplopia, and other permanent physical impairments.
Following several years of rehabilitation, he redirected his career toward visual arts while returning to music composition despite his hearing loss. Inspired by a longstanding interest in Japanese culture, he relocated to Tokyo, where he graduated from a local art school specialising in character design and became fluent in Japanese.
His personal journey serves as the inspiration for the creative project Major Seventh and the feature documentary MoonDust, which explores recovery, artistic identity, and personal transformation through a blend of live-action filmmaking and anime.
In 2022, Jérémy de Champris was appointed as the Japan Ambassador for The Hope Giver Campaign, an international initiative that highlights individuals whose personal experiences encourage resilience and hope.
Jérémy de Champris developed an interest in creative expression during childhood through drawing and music. He began playing the guitar at the age of ten while simultaneously developing his skills as an illustrator and graffiti artist. During his youth, he also competed in karting, combining artistic pursuits with an enthusiasm for motorsport. As he entered adolescence, he became increasingly influenced by Japanese popular culture, particularly anime and manga, whose graphic styles and visual storytelling shared similarities with the street art that already inspired his work. These influences would later become central to both his artistic identity and long-term ambitions.
In 2009, de Champris moved to Dubai to pursue higher education in audio engineering at SAE Institute. During his years in Dubai, he immersed himself in the city's music scene, performing as both guitarist and bass guitarist in a cover band while gaining live performance experience through numerous concerts. Alongside performing, he expanded his technical expertise in recording, music production, composition, and sound engineering, building a multidisciplinary creative foundation that combined technical proficiency with artistic practice. He completed his studies at SAE Institute and graduated in October 2014.
Only a few weeks after graduation, on 11 November 2014, de Champris was involved in a severe motorcycle accident that dramatically altered the course of his life. The accident resulted in extensive brain trauma and left him in a deep coma for approximately six weeks with limited prospects for survival. During his recovery, additional neurological complications emerged, including a virus affecting his brain. He sustained permanent injuries that included single-sided deafness, diplopia (double vision), and significant physical impairments that required years of rehabilitation. The accident effectively interrupted the creative career he had begun to establish in music and audio production.
The following years were dedicated to a prolonged process of physical, neurological, and psychological recovery. Rather than returning solely to his previous professional path, de Champris gradually redefined his artistic direction. His longstanding interest in Japan evolved into a central element of his rehabilitation and personal development. Despite physical limitations and advice discouraging such a move, he pursued his ambition of relocating to Japan, viewing the country not only as a cultural destination but also as an environment in which to rebuild his life and career.
After relocating to Tokyo, de Champris undertook formal studies in character design at a local Japanese art school. Despite continuing to live with diplopia, he successfully completed his studies while developing his expertise in illustration, graphic design, and visual storytelling. At the same time, he resumed music composition despite being unilaterally deaf, demonstrating an ability to adapt his creative process to his changed physical circumstances. By April 2024, he had settled permanently in Tokyo, regained natural mobility through rehabilitation, achieved fluency in Japanese, and established a renewed multidisciplinary practice combining character design, graphic design, and music composition.
De Champris is also known professionally by the creative identity "Smith Pearlson." His work reflects influences drawn from Japanese visual culture, animation, manga, graphic arts, and music. These elements converge in projects that explore themes of resilience, identity, imagination, and personal transformation while integrating multiple artistic disciplines.
His personal experience became the foundation for Major Seventh, a creative project that uses the musical interval of the same name as a metaphor for imperfection, movement, and continuous progress. Rather than representing harmony or completion, the major seventh symbolises the subtle imbalance that creates forward motion, reflecting the project's central idea of moving forward despite adversity.
His life story also forms the basis of the 2026 feature documentary MoonDust. The documentary combines live-action filmmaking with anime-inspired sequences to depict his experiences before and after the 2014 accident, chronicling his recovery, rehabilitation, artistic reinvention, and eventual relocation to Japan. Through this hybrid cinematic approach, the film explores broader themes of identity, creativity, trauma, and renewal.
Jérémy de Champris' creative vision centres on using art, music, and visual storytelling to explore identity, resilience, and transformation. Influenced by Japanese culture, anime, manga, and graphic design, he integrates multiple creative disciplines to communicate personal and universal narratives. His work reflects the belief that artistic expression can evolve alongside life's challenges, with creativity serving as a means of adaptation, self-reconstruction, and continued personal development rather than the pursuit of perfection.
In 2022, Jérémy de Champris was appointed as the Japan Ambassador for The Hope Giver Campaign, an international initiative that highlights individuals whose personal experiences encourage resilience and hope. The appointment recognised his recovery journey following his 2014 motorcycle accident and his continued commitment to rebuilding his life through artistic practice and cultural engagement in Japan.
Beyond this appointment, de Champris has been recognised through creative projects inspired by his life and work. His personal journey serves as the foundation for the Major Seventh project, in which he is presented as the real-life survivor whose experiences informed its central themes of perseverance and forward movement. His story is also the subject of the 2026 feature documentary MoonDust, which documents his recovery, artistic evolution, and relocation to Japan through a combination of documentary filmmaking and anime-inspired visual storytelling. While these projects reflect recognition of the significance of his experiences, they represent creative works based on his life rather than formal industry awards.
