I am a sucker for design and, years ago, when in the market for my first SLR camera, it wasn’t really a feature set that sold me on a brand, it was the way the Nikon SLR looked to my eye and felt to my hand that made me target the N6006. Little did I know then that the design of the consumer N6006 had Nikon F4 DNA in its good looks and that the Nikon F4, which I consider the best-looking SLR ever made, had acquired its pulchritude from famed automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Italian design firm—Italdesign.
Over the years, Giorgetto Giugiaro created some of the world’s most enduring automotive designs. The ubiquitous Volkswagen Golf Mk 1 (known on these shores more popularly as the “Rabbit”) is a true classic, with almost 7 million cars sold. The DeLorean DMC-12, made extra famous as a time machine in the movie Back to the Future, was penned by Giugiaro, as well as another movie star, the Lotus Esprit S1, that turned into a submarine in the James Bond film, For Your Eyes Only. In keeping with Giugiaro’s “folded paper” design work, the exotic BMW M1 was raced after being hand-painted by artist Andy Warhol.
Founded in 1968, Giugiaro’s Italdesign (now owned by German car maker Audi) specializes not only in automotive design and styling, but wide-ranging industrial design applications, as well, including its 30+ year relationship with Nikon. To find out more about the relationship between Giugiaro and Nikon, I spoke, via email, with Nicola Guelfo, Head of Industrial Design Styling at Italdesign. *
B&H: Your website states that you have been involved in a partnership with Nikon for 30 years. When exactly did the partnership begin?
Nicola Guelfo: We started in 1983, with the F3 project.
B&H: Did Nikon approach Italdesign, or did Italdesign approach Nikon?
NG: Giorgetto Giugiaro was and is very famous in Japan as a car designer. Nikon asked him to apply his skills, approach, and vision also to the design of a camera.
B&H: What other cameras has Italdesign had a hand in designing?
NG: Basically we’ve been involved in every new professional product from F3 on. This means F4, F5, F6, D1, D2, D3, and D4. We also designed the Nikonos RS camera and we worked on several concepts for consumer products.
[Note: Italdesign did not design the D5, but that camera’s design is clearly based on the D4 platform.]
B&H: Did Italdesign receive any design awards for its Nikon cameras?
NG: Yes, we won an iF [International Forum Design GmbH] award for the D4.
B&H: Do you have a dedicated camera-design team? Or do you have freelance designers who work on many industrial projects?
NG: We don’t have a team dedicated to camera projects, but we create a team of designers for every new project.
B&H: Are the designers who work on Nikon cameras also photographers? What kind of photography experience do they have?
NG: Most of our designers have a passion for photography since it’s a sector strongly close to design. They take pictures as a hobby; not as a profession.
B&H: Would you tell me a bit about the design process? Do you start with a blank sheet of paper, or does Nikon approach you with specifications, size requirements, and an outline of what they think the camera should look like?
NG: Designing professional cameras is important to keep in mind several ergonomic and functional requirements coming from professional photographers. To fit these requirements, we start our design research from technical layout developing new ideas under the point of view of ergonomics, function, and style. The goal is to finalize them into an innovative but functional product.
B&H: What other design input does Nikon have in the process as far as the aesthetics of the camera body?
NG: We, together with Nikon R&D, define new levels of interface experience for users. It means to provide not only a modern design but also an instrument that can deliver better performances for high-demanding users.
B&H: Obviously, the camera body should house a specific set of internal components—prisms, film spools, digital sensor, shutter mechanism, batteries, etc. Is Italdesign consulted in the operational mechanicals of the camera from the start? Or, are the mechanicals designed to fit inside the body design at some point in the design stage? For instance, in the photographs of the F4 clay mockups, there are two very different prism-housing designs—do you have, on hand, the prism that Nikon wishes to employ, or is the prism designed in conjunction with the prism housing?
NG: It’s a real co-design. We develop new ideas and we discuss them with Nikon technicians, pushing them to harmonize the mechanical layout to design needs. Prism design is a good example of this kind of harmonization, is the result of strong cooperation between designer and R&D.
B&H: Is there a complete list of projects you have completed for Nikon available?
NG: We worked on every single professional camera from F3 to D4 and Nikonos. All the other reflex products (like D40 or F801 etc.) were derived from professional camera design.
B&H: You mentioned that the lower-end camera models had designs based on the professional Italdesign cameras. Were those modified designs done by Nikon or in collaboration with Italdesign?
NG: No, the declination of our design into lower-end cameras have been carried out by Nikon team.
B&H: Are you currently working on any designs for Nikon that you can discuss?
NG: Unfortunately, this is non-disclosable information, since confidentiality is one of the most important parts of our job!
B&H: Do you, or other designers there have a favorite Nikon camera that you would want to share with us?
NG: Frankly speaking, we love them all. They put a signature on different ages and set a standard for so many years. We are proud of the opportunity to develop this unique partnership.
*Interview has been edited for clarity.
