Japan Car: Creativity on wheels

Automotive design is stretching beyond the posters in teenage boys’ rooms and the fantasies of middle-aged men who watch Top Gear – a new generation of creatives is getting in on the act too. A unique exhibition at The Science Museum looks at cars in a new light, studying their designs both as vehicles for transporting people and as ‘mobile cells’.

Japan Car has been conceived and curated not by industry enthusiasts or specialists but by two top creatives from outside the automotive world – Kenya Hara, of minimal Japanese retailer Muji, and the distinguished architect Shigeru Ban.

‘Japan Car is a new look at Japanese car design by two innovative thinkers,’ explains the museum’s principal curator of technology, Andrew Nahum. ‘These cars intrigue us and prompt us to ask whether this is a glimpse into the future of road transport.’