Award-winning industrial designer Shunji
Yamanaka graduated from the Facult y of
Engineering at the University of Tokyo. After
working for Nissan Motor's Design Centre and
serving as an associate professor at the University of Tokyo, he established Leading Edge Design in 1994.

While having designed a number of industrial
products like the Nissan Infiniti Q45, Olympus
Camera "O-product", OXO Good Grips tools,
and Issey Miyake watches, Yamanaka continues to pursue the newest research and development in scientific fields. He has released prototypes that have attracted international attention, including the humanoid robot Morph3, the thumb-operated keyboard Tagtype and the Halluc II, an eight-wheeled robotic vehicle.