Kiyoyuki “Ken” Okuyama | TEDxTokyo 2010
Ken Okuyama has spent a lifetime fashioning exotic yet practical things of surpassing beauty. The prizewinning car designer has shaped models for General Motors, Porsche and Italy’s famed Pininfarina, including the Enzo Ferrari and Maserati Quatroporte. Ken left Pininfarina in 2006 and established KEN OKUYAMA DESIGN in 2007. Breaking free of the automotive sphere, he now designs everything from eyewear to theme parks to furniture to humanoid robots. The latter include Nuvo, the world’s first home-use robotic companion. Through KEN OKUYAMA CARS, he unveiled two limited-edition concept Cars—the k.o7 Spider and its all-electric sibling, the k.o8—at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. Ken is a visiting professor at the Art Center College of Design in the U.S. and design colleges in Japan.