Mr.Maitani's final speech on the camera he had developed in Olympus was held
by Japan Camera Museum on July 12. I could not attend it this time but I got
some information on what he said and did on that day.
The title of his speech was "Episodes on Olympus XA development".
Some points of his speech were;
- Help of many company people is needed to produce a new camera. Since the
concept of XA was quite new and advanced, he had to make much effort to
convince people in Olympus of the new concept.
- Mr.Maitani himself created the body design of XA, forming with clay at his
home. He made clay model midnight hearing the Japanese famous music program
of FM radio, "Jet Stream".
XA got the Japanese "Good Design" grand award of the year. It means XA was
evaluated as the top of industrial design of the year in Japan.
- He intended that XA is like a ceramic art product that nicely fits in the
hand. He choose special surface finish to produce stone-like feeling.
This time Mr.Maitani signed cameras of some attendant with his name.
The signature is "Y.Maitani" in alphabet. He signed for attendants who
requested him to sign on their OM-1, Pen-F, and XA.
N.Maekawa
Japan
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