Nissan designer John Anthony Sahs moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to take on a new role as chief designer of NDA-R (Nissan Design Americas – Rio) back in March this year. He took over the role from Robert Bauer, NDA-R’s former chief designer since 2014, when the studio opened. Bauer moved back to join Nissan’s production design studio in Michigan.
SUGGESTED VIDEO:
‘A Window into the Life of John Anthony Sahs’
(directed by John’s cousin, John Reyes-Nguyen)
Besides having been involved in a number of successful exterior and interior projects at Nissan – cars such as the Nissan Resonance concept (video) (lead designer); the 2001 Nissan GT-R concept (interior); the 2003 Serenity show car (exterior); the 2008 Denki Cube concept (interior); the 2nd generation production Cube (lead designer); and the 2016 Nissan Titan (interior design manager/lead designer) – Sahs also spent seven years working at Mercedes-Benz’s advanced design studio in Japan, where he was the lead interior designer of the 1997 Maybach show car.
Sahs has great experience, from advanced interior and exterior design of Nissan vehicles to final production. Before taking up his new position in Brazil, Sahs was the interior design manager of Nissan Design America, a position he held since 2012 where he worked on projects for Nissan and Infiniti.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Sahs emigrated to the United States at the age of five. He graduated at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, in 1992. He lived in Japan for 20 years where he worked for Nissan Global. His talent and creativity is evidenced in many Nissan products.
Sahs is also an accomplished artist, as you can see from the small collection above. You can see more of John’s awesome work on his Instagram page.
Sahs will now direct several projects for Latin America from the Nissan Design Satellite Studio in Brazil, which opened in 2014. He will bring the preferences and needs of Brazilians and Latin Americans in general closer to Nissan’s projects.
The Satellite Studio is part of Nissan’s design centers around the world in strategic cities such as London, Beijing and San Diego. Globally, the team is headed by Alfonso Albaisa, Nissan’s senior vice president and Head of Design.
