Samurai- Zen & the Origami of Motorcycle Design

Samurai - Zen & the Origami of Motorcycle Design

Japanese design is often characterized by its minimalist nature, simplicity of form, economical style. So designers Artem Smirnov of Belarus, and Ukrainian Vladimir Panchenko, decided to collaborate on a motorcycle design that would be a tribute to traditional Japanese art forms.

"The Japanese approach to design has always been original, which is the foundation of culture with its art of origami and the samurai spirit," they said. "The simplicity and sense of space today are recognized in the industrial design of the Japanese brands. But for some reason, this approach is now rarely used in the design of Japanese cars and motorcycles."

Samurai Concept Bike

Employing Zen esthetic principles, the two automotive designers came up with a concept they call the Samurai. The design exercise
is a study in straight lines and simple forms, unlike either the usual curved and rounded shapes of traditional European design, or the sharp edges of many contemporary motorcycles.

The result is distinctive, elemental, even intriguing in a Bauhaus-meets-Buddhism sense of integrated components harmonizing to produce an overall esthetic of conceptual unity and trans-cultural union of spiritual engineering. Or something. Maybe an electric dragster that’s still in the crate.