is a Japanese industrial designer who known as the designer of Nissan's ''pike car'' series with its retro-future design. Currently, he is a professor of

Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus , also known as “Keio SFC” is a research-oriented campus of Keio University located in the city of Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The campus currently offers three undergraduate courses and two postgraduate courses, and incorporates o ...

(SFC), a guest design director for au, and the manager of his own company, waterdesign. He has collaborated with companies such as

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

Suzuki is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...

, Toyota (WiLL),

Olympus Olympus or Olympos () may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Lesbos * Mount Olympus (Euboea) ...

KDDI () is a Japanese telecommunications operator. It was established in 2000 through the merger of , , and . In 2001, it merged with a subsidiary named Au, which was formed through the merger of seven automotive and mobile phone companies from t ...

, and Cassina.
The S Cargo was not designed by Sakai.
Sakai led the Pike designs and created a proposal for the

Nissan Figaro The Nissan Figaro is a two-door car manufactured by Nissan Motors, Nissan in 1991 for the Japanese market. Based on the original Nissan Micra, Nissan March/Micra, the Figaro is a fixed-profile convertible with a 2+2 (car body style), 2+2 seatin ...

, but the design selected for final production (first shown at the 1989

Tokyo Motor Show The , called (TMS) until 2023, is a biennial auto show held in October–November at the Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), it is a recog ...

) was designed by Nissan's in-house design team, led by Jim Shimizu (Shimizu Jun).

Major works

Nissan Motors is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and '' Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house performance tuning ...

** Be-1 (1987) ** Pao (1989) ** Rasheen (1994) *

Suzuki SW-1 is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combu ...

(1992) *

The Olympus O-Product Retro Futuristic Camera

** o-product (1988) ** Ecru (1991) * au design project ** HEXAGON (2005) ** MACHINA (2005) ** DRAPE (2006) *

Toray is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan that specializes in industrial products centered on technologies in organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and biochemistry. Its founding business areas were fibers and textiles, ...

** torayvino aqua meister (2007)

References

External links

*
waterdesign

Profile
– from the

Keio University SFC , also known as “Keio SFC” is a research-oriented campus of Keio University located in the city of Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The campus currently offers three undergraduate courses and two postgraduate courses, and incorporates o ...

website
Profile
– fro
au design project

Olympus O-Product
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakai, Naoki 1947 births Living people Japanese industrial designers Japanese automobile designers Japanese motorcycle designers Kyoto City University of Arts alumni People from Kyoto Academic staff of Keio University