Ken Okuyama

Ken Okuyama (born 1959) is a Japanese industrial designer. He is the owner of the Ken Okuyama Design company. Okuyama formerly worked for Pininfarina designing and supervising projects such as the Enzo Ferrari and Ferrari P4/5.^[1][2] His given name is Kiyoyuki Okuyama (奥山 清行, Okuyama Kiyoyuki) but goes by Ken Okuyama (ケン・オクヤマ) outside Japan. He was born in the city of Yamagata, Japan, but lives in Italy, and speaks Japanese, Italian, and English fluently.^[1]

Career

Okuyama graduated from the Art Center College of Design in 1986.^[1] For the next 3 years he was a visiting professor at Tohoku University of Art and DesignIn 1991, he returned to teach part-time at the Art Center College of Design in California. Between 2000 and 2004, he was Chair of the Transportation Design Department at the college, but in 2004, he was offered a job at Pininfarina.^[3]

Ken Okuyama worked for General Motors and Porsche, helping design the new generation Porsche 911 (aka 996) as well as the Boxster.^[1] Before moving to Pininfarina, he worked for General Motors in the Advanced Concepts Center in California.^[1]

On 10 May 2004, Ken Okuyama began work as Creative Director at Pininfarina.^[3] He had been working with Pininfarina before, supervising the design of the Enzo Ferrari.^[4] As Creative Director Ken oversaw projects including the Ferrari 599, Mitsubishi Colt CZC, Maserati Birdcage 75th and Ferrari P4/5.^[2][5][6][7]

In 2006, Okuyama left Pininfarina and set up his own design firm, Newton Design Lab. In late 2007, Okuyama launched the Ken Okuyama Eyes collection, an eyewear collection manufactured in Japan.

In 2008, Ken Okuyama presented his first concept car under his own name - the K.O. 7 Spider, a carbon fiber and unpainted aluminum two-seater. The K.O. 7 was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2008. Ken Okuyama has cooperated with the luxury watch producer TAG Heuer, having fitted the TAG Heuer Grand Carrera at the dashboard of the car. The interior of the concept car was inspired by the design of the TAG Heuer watch.

In 2008, Ken Okuyama's design studio produced the first 20 models of the K.O. 7 Spider, already pre-sold to an 'inner circle' of designer's fans. It was followed by the production of 99 cars in 2009 and 99 more in 2010.^[8]

In 2016, Ken Okuyama Launched the Kode 57. This will be an additional member to the limited-edition family as only five units will be produced.^[9] Forbes Magazine stated "Enzo Ferrari Designer Stuns Monterey With Breathtaking Kode 57 Supercar".^[10]

Projects

Railway vehicles

• JR East E6 Series Shinkansen, introduced in March 2013^[11]
• JR East E7 Series Shinkansen, introduced in March 2014^[12]
• Rebuilt KiHa 141 series coaches for the JR East SL Ginga excursion train, introduced on the Kamaishi Line in April 2014^[13]
• Revised colour scheme for JR East E3 Series Shinkansen fleet used on Tsubasa services from April 2014^[14]
• JR East E3 series Toreiyu excursion train entering service on the Yamagata Shinkansen from July 2014^[14]
• E235 series commuter trains for the Yamanote Line in Tokyo, scheduled to be introduced from autumn 2015^[15]
• JR East E353 series Super Azusa trains entering service in 2015^[16]
• HB-E300 series 4-car hybrid DMU set for use on Resort Shirakami - Buna services in the north of Japan from July 2016^[17]
• JR East E001 series Train Suite Shiki-shima luxury cruise train, scheduled to enter service in May 2017^[18]
• Tobu 500 series limited express trains entering service in spring 2017^[19]
• New trains for the Kobe Municipal Subway Seishin-Yamate Line, entering service in fiscal 2018^[20]

• 
  An E6 series shinkansen set in March 2013
• 
  An E7 series shinkansen set in April 2014
• 
  The rebuilt KiHa 141 series cars for the SL Ginga excursion trainset in May 2014
• 
  A reliveried Tsubasa E3 series shinkansen set in March 2015
• 
  The E3 series Toreiyu excursion trainset in July 2014
• 
  The first E235 series trainset in April 2015
• 
  A E353 series trainset in July 2015
• 
  The E001 series Train Suite Shiki-shima cruise train on delivery in September 2016

Other vehicles

• 
  Kode7
• 
  Kode7 Clubman
• 
  Kode9
• 
  Yanmar YT01
• 
  Kode57 Enji
• 
  Kode57 Enji Rear

Awards

The following were awarded to either Ken Okuyama or a car he worked with others to design:

• The Pininfarina Metrocubo won The Best Interior Design of the Year Award in 1999^[1]
• The Ferrari Rossa, designed by Okuyama, won The Best Concept Car of The Year award in 2000^[1]
• The Maserati Birdcage 75th won the Best Concept prize at the Editors Choice Awards by Autoweek^[21]
• The Maserati Birdcage 75th won the Louis Vuitton Classic Concept Award which Pininfarina gave to Okuyama^[21]
• The prestigious Hall of Fame award “La Bella Macchina” was given to Ken Okuyama at Concorso Italiano on August 20, 2016.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ken Okuyama.

• Official website (Japanese)
• Yamagata Koubou website