Yuri Suzuki is Pentagram’s newest Partner

Installation, experience and sound designer Yuri Suzuki has become a Partner at Pentagram’s London studio

Yuri Suzuki. Image: Mark Cocksedge

Yuri Suzuki is the fourth creative to be appointed Partner at Pentagram London this year and follows Astrid Stavro, Sascha Lobe and Jon Marshall.

Suzuki was born in Tokyo and moved to London to study at the Royal College of Art. He founded Yuri Suzuki Design Studio in 2010 and has created playful installations and interactive experiences for Google, Moog, Audi, Fendi and Disney. His studio also provides R&D and sound consultancy work for clients.

Suzuki’s practice is diverse – his installations have been shown in the V&A, Tate Britain and London’s Design Museum – but his projects share a creative use of technology and sound. One of his best-known projects is OTOTO, a DIY musical instrument created with Mark McKeague and Joseph Pleass, which is featured in the permanent collection at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. He also worked with will.i.am to create a striking installation for the Barbican’s Digital Revolution exhibition in 2014, and developed an AR music kit (an augmented reality app that turns paper into instruments) for Google.

Suzuki is the first sound designer to join Pentagram’s London studio. Pentagram says his team will specialise in installation, interaction and product design: “He aims to expand the field of technical driven and experiential design, as well as research and development,” says Pentagram.

In a statement announcing the appointment, Jon Marshall – who joined Pentagram earlier this year from MAP Project Office – described Suzuki’s designs and art installations as “beautiful, inventive, witty and thought provoking” while Pentagram Partner Daniel Weil said his work “points to a future where design connects to all aspects of how we experience the world around us.”

The appointment of Marshall and Suzuki brings some formidable product and experience design expertise to Pentagram. Partner Jody Hudson-Powell, who joined Pentagram in 2015, said: “Yuri joining makes the group even more unique and pluralistic. As the reach of design practice encompasses ever more mediums, having Yuri here with us in London allows us to do even more for our clients.”