I now have a Japanese Name thanks to Nissan PR team!

Hayashi Yoshihide. That’s me. The wonderful people from Nissan have given me this cool Japanese name based on the Chinese Characters or my name. That’s right people I shall now embrace that name and will answer to it if called! Thanks, Gina and Haruko.
I do digress…
Well as mentioned last, I was a moderator at the recent Nissan Design Forum in Singapore last Thursday 31 Aug 2006.
Overall it was a fun little get-together, as the Team from Nissan Design was very sociable and great conversationalists! I also met Kunimoto San the Project Design Director for Nissan Design in Japan, as well as Alfonso Albaisa, the Design Director of Nissan Design America.

The forum was a little bumpy, and the tough bit for me was linking the topic “Form Follows Emotion” to each of the panelist’s different backgrounds. On the panel, we had visual artists, graphic designers, fashion designers, architects, interior designers, furniture designers, and car designers. It felt a little bumpy in the beginning, but after the first few panelists, I figured out how to link them all. The good thing was it all came together without too much of a hitch at the end. However, we did have a brief power trip about halfway thru the discussion which kind of dampens things.

Also, a nice surprise was the visit of Toshiyuki Kita and a delegation from Kobi which he led. His comments in the discussions were great. His suggestion was it was vital to balance emotion vs. function. If one dominates the other, the result will not be as satisfying.

The evening ended with a great mixer where the panelist mingled with the guest. I got to catch up with my favorite designers and swap cool design stories with Kita, Alfonso, Wykidd Song, and Jackson Tan whom I finally get to meet in person!