Tom Karen

Tom Karen
Born Thomas Josef Derrick Paul Karen
March 1926 (age 92)
Vienna, Austria
Residence Cambridge, England
Nationality British
Alma mater Loughborough College
Occupation industrial designer
Title managing director and chief designer of Ogle Design
Term 1962-99
Bond Bug

Thomas Josef Derrick Paul Karen (born March 1926)[1] is a British industrial designer of Czech descent. He was managing director and chief designer of Ogle Design from 1962 until 1999. He oversaw design of the Bush Radio TR130 radio, the Raleigh Chopper, the Bond Bug, the Reliant Scimitar GTE, the Anadol A1 (FW5), a series of lorry cabs for Leyland, and the Marble Run toy (sold by Kiddicraft).

Early life

He was born in Vienna in 1926, but went to school in Brno. The family left Czechoslovakia in 1939 and Karen reached England in 1942. He studied aeronautical engineering at Loughborough College.

Career

He worked for Hunting Percival, makers of the Proctor and the Provost trainer, then the Air Registration Board. He enrolled at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. He joined the Ford design studio in 1955.

He then worked briefly for David Ogle before moving to Hotpoint and to Phillips where he set up their studio for white goods.

In 1962, Karen was invited to take charge of Ogle Design following the death of David Ogle in a car accident. He was managing director and chief designer until 1999. While there, he designed Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder for the Star Wars films; the Landspeeder was built around the chassis of a Bond Bug.[2][3]

Honours

In 2001, Karen received an honorary degree from Loughborough University.[4]

Karen on fastbacks

In March 1969, shortly after the launch of the Reliant Scimitar GTE which he had designed and of the Ford Capri (which he did not design), Karen had the opportunity to give his opinion on fastback designs. He claimed to be "baffled" by "the case for fastbacks" because he thought there was "nothing good to be said for them except that some people think they look all right". "Aerodynamically they're lousy, headroom in the back is lousy, for visibility they're lousy, with a lot of glass they're lousy from a weight point of view and they give no boot access".[5]

Book

In 2010 Karen published a book, Ogle & The Bug.[6]

Personal life

Karen lives in Cambridge.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Thomas Josef Derrick Paul KAREN - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  2. ↑ "The Force is strong with this three-wheeler from Preston". The Independent. 17 June 2010.
  3. ↑ "Star Wars Insider #98 Excerpt: Roger Christian". Lucasfilm. 2007-12-04. Archived from the original on 2007-12-06. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  4. ↑ "Dr Tom Karen". www.lboro.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  5. ↑ "British in style: The Ogle design studios show the way". Motor. Vol. nbr 3483. 22 March 1969. pp. 26–32.
  6. ↑ "children books cartoon books". www.tkbooks.co.uk. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  7. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Maria (16 March 2014). "My space: Tom Karen, inventor". Retrieved 19 October 2017 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.