Hello,

I’m David Tonge, a British Industrial Designer & Adviser. Co-founder of The Division. I’m also an Honorary Professor at Kanazawa College of Art.

For 30 years, I’ve worked as a design and strategy consultant to Japanese companies, at the same time helping global brands translate their ideas into products, services and experiences that resonate and succeed in the Japanese market.

Japan and I.

I fell in love with Japan in the mid ’90s.

100+ visits, 200+ projects, countless train journeys, a lot of conversations.

Passionate about Japanese culture, I read, write and speak Japanese.

My insights on Japanese business have been serialised in Nikkei BP (Japanese Financial Times).

My photos of everyday life in Japan have been exhibited in London and Tokyo.

I can’t say no to Japanese curry, or a long soak in an onsen.

Inside Outside.

My inside knowledge, blended with an outside, fresh, perspective and global design experience, provides a unique and valuable lens into the world’s most sophisticated consumer market and design culture – and is where I do my best work.

Where I’ve been.

Before The Division, I was Partner at Tangerine in London, Design Director at IDEO and Associate Partner at Pentagram both in San Francisco, where for 10 years I worked alongside some of the best minds in global design and developed relationships with some of the most well-known international brands.

I’ve shown at, and won.

My work has been exhibited at the London Design Museum, NY MoMA and 21-21 Tokyo, and has won awards from Chicago Athenaeum Good Design, D&AD, Japan Good Design, IDSA, IF Die Industrie Forum, Red Dot and more. I am frequently invited to present at design conferences, as well as facilitate workshops and lecture, including the Design Management Network in Tokyo.

I’ve featured in.

Axis, Business Week, Blueprint, Creative Review, The Guardian and in – Jony Ive, The Genius behind Apples greatest products, and Life after Steve. I have been interviewed about design on BBC radio, NHK TV Japan and CBS. I also write about design for The Japan Society and others.

You can read about my travels in Japan here.

Say hello here.

David