Tag Archives: GK Design Group

Legendary industrial designer, alumnus Kenji Ekuan, passes away at age 85

Product Design alumnus Kenji Ekuan (BS 57), second from right, arrives in the United States in the 1950s.

Product Design alumnus Kenji Ekuan (BS 57), second from right, arrives in the United States in the 1950s.

It is with great sadness that we report on the passing of Product Design alumnus Kenji Ekuan (BS 57). The legendary industrial designer died on February 8, at the age of 85.

A former Buddhist monk and the founder of GK Design Group, Ekuan designed everything from the Akita Shinkansen high-speed train, Yahama VMAX motorcylces and the iconic Kikkoman soy sauce dispenser, the latter which resides in the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection.

As NPR reported this morning, Ekuan’s decision to become a designer had roots in the bombing of Hiroshima in 1946, an attack which killed his sister and his father. ”Faced with brutal nothingness, I felt a great nostalgia for something to touch, something to look at,” he told Japanese broadcaster NHK. “The existence of tangible things is important. It’s evidence that we’re here as human beings.”

Continue reading

Art Center in Asia: It Began in Japan

Product Design alumnus Kenji Ekuan (BS 57), second from right, arrives in the United States in the 1950s.

Product Design alumnus Kenji Ekuan (BS 57), second from right, arrives in the United States in the 1950s.

In the latest issue of Dot magazine, we take a look at Art Center College of Design’s long history—nearly 60 years—of connections to Asia. Take a trip with us through time and across the Pacific as we look back in history and forward to the future. Today, we explore the College’s historic relationship with Japan.

In 1956, Edward A. “Tink” Adams, Art Center’s first president, traveled to Japan with Advertising alumnus George Jergenson (BFA 35)—then the director of the College’s Industrial Design (ID) Department—and ID faculty member John Coleman. They had been invited by the Japanese government to tour the country and to share their thoughts on how industrial design could provide a competitive advantage for a nation still early in its post-war recovery.

After returning to the U.S., they filed a formal report containing several recommendations for Japan, including instilling a sense of national pride in products being “Made in Japan”—they cited Nikon’s confidence in placing its name on its camera, “one of the finest cameras anywhere”—and making sure Japanese students fully grasp their country’s rich cultural history. The future designer, it stated, “will learn more…from studying Japanese masters of painting and design than he will from Western art.”

Continue reading

Awards Honor Exceptional Alumni

Each December, the College and Office of Alumni Relations present the Art Center Alumni Awards to three outstanding alumni. The winners, chosen by the Art Center community, are recognized during the Fall Term graduation ceremony. We are honored to announce the following Art Center Alumni Award winners:

  • Kenji Ekuan PROD ’57, awarded the Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award in recognition of his professional and creative accomplishments with his design company, GK Design Group. Founded in 1957, it is Japan’s largest design consultancy.
  • Michael Osborne GRPH ’78, awarded the Outstanding Service Alumni Award in honor of his humanitarian impact through his nonprofit design studio, Joey’s Corner. Named in honor of his late son, Joey’s Corner provides pro bono, strategic creative services to nonprofit groups focusing on health care, children’s issues and social causes.
  • Eric Benjamin Nyquist ILLU ’07, awarded the Young Alumni Innovator Award in recognition of his notable professional and creative innovation working with a range of clients including NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goldie Cosmetics, Walt Disney, Heineken USA, VIBE magazine, Jeep, Lexus and Wall Street Journal Magazine.

Congratulations to our alumni for these well-deserved marks of distinction!