COOL HUNTING Ferrari Roma Tailor Made’s Japanese Artisans: Kamon
Kyogen teaches us about the art of the Japanese kamon and shows how ours was made
A subtle element of the Ferrari Roma Tailor Made, Specially Crafted for COOL HUNTING is a kamon, a Japanese house crest featured on the interior of the car. Designed at the request of Ferrari to demonstrate the depth of personalization capabilities of their Tailor Made customization program, the Roma we collaborated on features bespoke aspects that we commissioned from many of the Japanese artisans we visited during our 2019 CH Japan trip and collaborated with on our CH Omakase collection.
As various aspects of the Roma’s design started to codify, we began looking at creating a graphic mark to represent the project. We decided to explore the art of kamon, traditional Japanese house crests—a practice believed to date back to the late Heian era, during the 11th and 12th centuries. Family-run Kyogen, who have been practicing the craft for generations, were the perfect partner for our work given their respect for history and craft and an innovative use of digital tools in their process.
After a few iterations we landed on a design featuring two elements: waves and the wheel of an 19th century royal carriage. The designers gave our wheel eight spokes, representing eight cylinders of the Ferrari Roma’s engine. The waves (with eight crests) embody force and forward movement while also paying homage to the engine. We had originally imagined that the kamon would be a large element on the front sides of the car, but eventually made it quite small and placed it in the interior—screened on top of the carbon fiber door sills felt right, as did the badge on the car’s armrest.
Watch the video above to learn more about the inspiring process and see the final results created by this dynamic father-son duo, who we learned were longtime fans of the brand.
Image by Irwin Wong
