![](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/03/01_k_o_7_8.jpg)
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.
![](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/03/04_k_o_7_8.jpg)
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).
![](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/03/05_k_o_7_8.jpg)
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.
![](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/03/06_k_o_7_8.jpg)
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.
![](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/03/07_k_o_7_8.jpg)
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.
via:autoblog
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