Ken Okuyama Design takes over at former Mercedes Advanced Design studio in Irvine
K07 - Click above for a high-res image gallery
Anybody can start sketching cars in their basement and call themselves a design studio. Of course it helps if you've got the clout and experience that comes with having steered an established coachbuilder like Pininfarina. But if you're going to make a dent in the increasingly troubled independent automotive design community, you're going to need a fancy facility to make it all happen. And that's just what Ken Okuyama has done.
The former Pininfarina chief stylist, since turned independent, has established an American arm to his expanding design enterprise, and they've set up shop at what used to be the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design studio (which in turn moved into Chrysler's former Pacifica Advanced Design Center in Carlsbad). The facility at 17742 Cowan Street in Irvine, California, (close to the line with Newport Beach) was purpose-built by Mercedes and boasts some 13,500 square feet of space right in the heart of Southern California's automotive design epicenter. While Okuyama himself will presumably continue to work from his headquarters in Italy, he's assembled a crackerjack team to lead the American studio, including Neil Brooker, Michael Castiglione and Stuart Macey – the team credited with such work as the Porsche Carrera GT and Dodge Challenger, designs which clearly speak for themselves. In addition to automotive design, the crew at Ken Okuyama Design USA will be working on furniture, eyewear and mass transit, among other things, as well as a custom coach-building operation to allow discerning (read: filthy rich) customers create their own one-of-a-kind rides. We'll expect to see more from the studio in the near future.
Gallery: K.O. 7 and K.O. 8
[Source: Car Design News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Clay Garland 9:09AM (6/04/2009)
Hey! Look at us! We made a 2-seat Ariel Atom.
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Clay Garland 9:10AM (6/04/2009)
wow. Don't post right after you wake up. I mean to say, "an Ariel Atom with sheet metal."
jpojpjpjopjopj 9:47AM (6/04/2009)
It did say "advanced design" headline right?
I think my dog scratched something similiar ON HIS ASS last night. Let me check.
Seriously if this is what a top, noted designer comes up with - we're all screwed. Give me his job, I could do WAY better.
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AZZO45b 1:17PM (6/04/2009)
^^STFU moron...
Its not a open "job" Ken Okuyama is Ken Okuyama Design... He owns the company & his team executed the concept. Did you even read the AB story?
If you don't like this concept fine... Google Ken & you will see he has worked at GM (twice) & had stops at Porsche & Pininfarina... All of those places don't hire untalented designers.
aaronz8 9:38PM (6/04/2009)
so many stuffs in irvine recently! hooray
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