Troy Sumitomo - President, Owner Five Axis Design

	YOU CHOSE:
		16%	74%	11%

"Good Design Is Good Design"

For those that don't already know him, meet Troy Sumitomo. Troy is the first to be featured in a new Carbon8 column called "Egos & Icons", a new monthly piece that will get up close and personal with some interesting dudes from the world of automotive design, production, racing, tuning, lifestyle and pretty much anything else we can think of. Troy is not only our first subject of this new column, he is also the founder and now sole owner of Five Axis, Five Axis Design and Five:AD.

Five Axis is a design company currently based out of Huntington Beach, California, and has created both killer concept and show cars for the likes of Honda, Toyota, Scion and Lexus. That's not all Five Axis does though. Recently, Five Axis launched a new line of lip kits for various Scion models along with a collection of alloy wheels called Five: AD. As if that wasn't enough, they've also managed to release a Five Axis Edition tC nation-wide (think Ford and Carol Shelby Mustang stuff). These Five Axis Edition tC's are a limited edition, numbered run that showcase some sweet aftermarket parts designed by Five Axis along with some others you may of heard of like Greddy, Pioneer, TRD and Yokohama. Five Axis also plans to take the same approach with the newest Scion models, xB and xD, in the very near future.

All of this came from very humble roots that tie back to Troy's high school days when he and his boys hung around late night Taco stands in the South Bay area of Southern California. After eating their fill of fish tacos, they would light 'em up and play 1320. "I'm from the old school crowd. We used to spend a lot of time fixing up our cars ourselves. I had a 1980 Toyota Corolla lift back." Troy told me when I asked him about his first inspiration. "At first I would just do cosmetic things but then I started hanging around TRD and wrenching on the motor and doing complete engine builds." Back then there were no body kits offered for Troy's car so he ended up making his own. "I took stuff from other cars and made it fit as best I could. When I look back on it, it was pretty bad but it fit about as well as some of the kits out right now."

After high school, Troy spent a little time as an undergrad at UCLA until he got bored and left to briefly study architecture before ending up at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA www.artcenter.edu where things really started to click for him. The Art Center College of Design offers a number of different programs including fine arts, photography etc but for those in the automotive industry they are probably best known for their automotive or "Transportation" design program. "I remember walking into the gallery, up there, and seeing all sorts of clay models of cars and drawings and stuff and I thought this is the shit. I have to go here." Prior to attending the Art Center, Troy will admit much of his creative output process was mainly limited to sketches and drawings. "When I was at the Art Center I learned how to make models out of clay and realized my true strength was using my hands in creating 3D objects. I learned invaluable techniques when it comes to building things not just drawing them."

After Troy graduated from the Art Center, he began a brief stint working in a small design firm where he toiled over making models of mono-rail systems. He swears he didn't design the mono-rail system that was featured on the Simpsons although he says he may as well have. "Anyway, after that, I got a job working over at Metalcrafters which, at the time, was one of the top places to have cars built. They still crank out some cool concept stuff for Chrysler." While there, Troy was able to apply his understanding of the design process and help bring ideas to life. Troy was in his element at Metalcrafters. As fate would have it, he also met his soon to be business partner there.

After three years at Metalcrafters and 80 hour work weeks, Troy and his new business partner set out to break from the corporate mould and build their own automotive design studio while poisoning a few cinnamon rolls in the process. All will be explained, read on. "We had this 800 square foot facility out in Santa Ana complete with gun shots at night and everything. Our first gig was to fabricate a race car body for a WSC car through an independent chassis builder and engineeer." But a one off gig building a race car body won't keep a roof over your head or food in your belly for long. "Then we got a little job through Honda R&D and we were really in business." The only problem was that little 800 square foot facility of theirs had no proper spraying facilities or ventilation. When the bakery that was located directly next door started complaining that their cinnamon rolls tasted like polyester resin, they decided it was time to leave.

Five Axis packed up and moved into a bigger, better facility and as just as their Honda concept car projects started to fade out along came Scion. Much of the work produced by Troy and his band of merry men, at Five Axis, for Scion, will likely be most familiar to you. Remember Scion's infamous "DJ Car"? Well that's just one of many creations Five Axis has been commissioned to produce for Scion over the years. SEMA 2007 also marked a new accomplishment for Five Axis when they unveiled their now, rather infamous, take on the Lexus IS F. These days, Troy and the rest of team Five Axis are busy with their new line of wheels and body kits. "I wanted to create a line of wheels and kits that were superior in design. A lot of thought has gone into these products and we think it shows." said Troy when I asked him what he thought distinguished Five Axis products the most from others on the market. "I think the finishes used on the wheels alone make us unique and, of course, the styling." As for the future, well let's just say Troy won't be short of work. He and the rest of his team are already beginning to do some work for Toyota and Lexus and if years past are any indication of what we can expect from Five Axis, the only limitations they face are those of their own imaginations. Personally, I can't wait to see what Five Axis unveils at this year's SEMA show. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Oh yeah, and as for that IS F, Five Axis have partnered with some other well known performance manufacturers and they're getting ready to go under the hood to make some adjustments. Stay tuned to Carbon8 to find out what they are...