Keiji Kawahara is Industrial Designer and President of KIDStudio Corporation as well as Executive Director of the International Association for Universal Design (IAUD) in Japan.

Keiji Kawahara earned his degree MDesRCA at the School of Industrial Design, Royal College of Art in London. He has devoted himself to study designing for disabled people for nearly 30 years and as a professional industrial designer he has been trying to design all products to be human centered. Some typical examples of his work are: Clock for the Blind, House for Wheelchair Users, Barrier-free Kitchen and ATM for the Blind, Platform Safety System. He also organised the International Conference for Universal Design in Japan 2002.

International Association for Universal Design (IAUD)

IAUD, a network of more than 130 Japanese companies, including major household names like Toyota, Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi, Panasonic, Nissan, Matsushita, Fujitsu, was launched in Tokyo on 28 November 2003, with Prince Tomohito, a cousin of the Japanese Emperor as its patron.  This network represents a significant step in advancing inclusive universal design practice and is likely to have a major influence worldwide, as Japanese products become increasingly user-friendly.

www.iaud.net