Kenji Ekuan

Born in Tokyo on September 11, 1929, Ekuan spent his youth in Hawaii.[1] At the end of World War II, he moved to Hiroshima, where he witnessed the atomic bombing of the city, in which he lost his sister and his father, a Buddhist priest. He said the devastation motivated him to become a "creator of things".[2][3] Later he attended Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (present-day Tokyo University of the Arts). In 1957, he founded GK Industrial Design Laboratory (ＧＫインダストリアルデザイン研究所).[1] "GK" stood for "Group of Koike", as Koike was the name of an associate professor at the university.[4]

In 1970, he became president of the Japan Industrial Designers' Association and five years later he was elected as president of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design.[5]

During his lifetime he served as chair of the Japan Institute of Design, dean of Shizuoka University of Art and Culture was and a trustee of the Art Center College of Design.[3]

Ekuan died in the hospital in Tokyo on February 8, 2015, at the age of 85.[1]

Products that Ekuan oversaw the design of included the following.

• Kikkoman soy sauce bottle, 1961[6]
• Yamaha VMAX motorcycle, 2008[6]

• 
  Kikkoman soy sauce bottle
• 
  Yamaha VMAX

• 1979: Colin King Grand Prix - International Council of Societies of Industrial Design[10]
• 1995: Sir Misha Black Medal[11]
• 1997: Ordre des Arts et des Lettres - French Minister of Culture[5]
• 2000: Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette[10]
• 2003: Lucky Strike Designer Award - Raymond Loewy Foundation[12]
• 2004: Commander in the Order of the Lion of Finland[13]
• 2014: Compasso d'Oro for Lifetime Achievement - Associazione per il Disegno Industriale[14]

• Kenji Ekuan (1 March 1998). The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunchbox. Diane Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-7567-7620-6.

• GK Design website