Design Interview: Tsunehiro Kunimoto, Mitsubishi
By Car Design News2019-07-15T15:06:00
“I have conducted interviews with real customers in Asia, Europe, Japan and the USA. They told me that ‘honest’, ‘robust’ and ‘reliable’ are key markers of the brand. I want to express this through design.”
When I was a kid, my father spent a lot of time overseas and he brought back many interesting industrial items from Europe. These were beautifully designed, and very different from Japanese design at the time. I think I became excited about design then because of these objects, which were designed for very functional usage: this was what sparked my interest. Then, while at university, I bought a car. I loved modifying and driving that car; driving was like having a private room, I could go anywhere, and many of my best experiences come from cars. During that period the oil crisis was happening, and not many students were interested in going into automotive – but I believed the car would survive.