A longstanding admiration of foreign cars

I am from Russia, and I work as a car designer. I have always been interested in cars, and when I was a child, I loved finding rare, imported cars on the streets. When I was 9 years old, F1 fascinated me, which made me hope to work in the car industry in the future.

When I was a teenager, I went to Los Angeles because of my mother’s work. I happened to learn that there was a school there where I could study car design, and I was surprised that I could choose a car designer as my future job. I wanted to design cool cars like the ones I had seen as a kid. This was my turning point, and I decided to pursue a career as a car designer.

Turning down other offers to join Honda

After studying engineering and industrial design at a university in St. Petersburg, I completed a master’s degree at the European Institute of Design in Italy and did an internship at a local car manufacturer. I had received a job offer from this manufacturer, but at the time I knew that Honda was looking for creative designers. I must not have passed up the opportunity and I immediately applied for the position. I viewed Honda as a company passionately involved in F1, which produced exciting models such as the NSX, S2000 and CR-X, Finally, I got hired as a contract designer and started working in Japan.

Honing design skills through fierce competition

My career at Honda began at a design studio in Roppongi. At the time, half of the dozen of my colleagues were contract designers who, like me, had come from overseas. We all participated in the same projects and competed to have our proposals adopted. If I did not make big achievements there, I might not have been able continue to work for Honda. I worked hard even though I sometimes got nervous. I could hone my creative skills to be able to compete on the global stage thanks to the tough and challenging environment.

The warmth of Honda I noticed once I left

Although I spent great time at a design studio in Roppongi, I also wanted to return to Europe, so I decided to leave Honda and move to London. I was excited by the talented people in my new workplace, but I began to feel a gap between my ideals and reality, and I wondered whether I should continue to work there. A friend of mine suggested that I might consider returning to Honda. I sent a message to my boss to ask whether I could come back to Honda. He replied, “Come back as soon as you can.” I started working for Honda again. I was anxious, but I was really happy that people remembered me and welcomed me warmly.

Honda support each other if they have any problems, and I think that the way they work as a team is also unique to Honda. The friendly environment where people are valued and where alumni are welcomed with open arms, to me, is my asset.

Honda has a various lineup of cars, and it also works in a wide range of areas, including robotics and air mobility projects. If you work for Honda, you can get a opportunity to do a job in those fields. There is also a scheme called the Personal Proposal Project (PPP), where once a year, everyone in the studio gets a chance to propose their own ideas. In some cases, the ideas make it into the development of new products. I feel that we are blessed with an environment that provides opportunities to advance career.