Lecture Presentation: Mr. Ikuo Maeda
To P-Room Seminar this time, we invited Mr. Ikuo Maeda, the head and director of design department of Mazda Motor Corporation, and listened to his talk and presentation. Mr. Maeda is a son of Mr. Matasaburo Maeda, the first president of Design Soken Hiroshima (presently GK Design Soken Hiroshima). Together with Mr. Maeda from Mazda, Mr. Hideki Suzuki, deputy director of the design department, and Mr. Masanori Minamisawa, assistant manager of the department attended the event. Mr. Minamisawa once worked for GK Design Soken Hiroshima for his on job practice sent by Mazda.
Mr. Maeda told us that "The design DNA for Mazda is an expression of motion and true beauty. Mazda, a small player in the field, should create a car that excites people world over by giving its design a strong message and consistency. From now on, the department would like to aim at a design able to express the motion by its structural elements as a whole."
Mr. Atsushi Ichijo who is in charge of a motorcycle design for Yamaha Motor Co.,Ltd., joined the round table talk in the second half of the seminar. Lively talk on the design of a car and a motorcycle took place by having participants from the floor. The reporter had had an impression, through listening to the discussion, there was no difference in the magnitude of passion toward creating something regardless it was a car or a motorcycle.
Ikuo Maeda:
Director of Mazda Design Headquarters. A graduate of The School of Design, Kyoto Institute of Technology. Joined Mazda Motor Corporation in 1982. Had worked at Yokohama Studio, California Studio, Headquarters Studio, Detroit Ford Studio, resumed post at present position from April of 2009 on.
A visiting executive on the board of GK Design Soken Hiroshima