travels also included spending his senior year of
high school in France. This further expanded
his exposure to art and design. As he explored
opportunities on his return, he was encouraged to visit
an automotive design show in Pasadena. There he saw
how art is an integral part of the car design process,
and soon after he enrolled in the ArtCenter College of
Design, widely regarded as the top industrial design
program in the U.S.
After internships at Mazda and BMW, he began
his career as a full-time designer at Mazda Design America in Irvine, California. There
he worked on several U.S.-specific designs as well as tailoring certain Japanese models
for the U.S. market. He worked on the design of the 2017 MX-5 Miata and played an
influential role in the design of the CX-7 crossover SUV.
He also worked on the design team that won awards for the Mazda concept cars
Ryuga, Kaan, and Nagare. Designing concept cars was his favorite activity – as he
describes them, “living sculpture” or “dynamic architecture” both inside and out.
CONCEPT CARS CAPTURE THE ARTISTIC SPIRIT OF
CAR DESIGN AND STOKE EXCITEMENT AND PASSION AMONG
CAR ENTHUSIASTS. FOR DESIGNERS, THESE PROJECTS ARE THE
ULTIMATE OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE AN OBJECT THAT CAN BE
SLEEK, ELEGANT, FUTURISTIC, ARTISTIC – A MYRIAD
SHAKER LIFE | SUMMER 2017 41
His Hooked on Concept Cars
Salaff was
instrumental in
the design of the
experimental
2006 Mazda
Nagare show car
(top left) and the
Ryuga (top right)
and Kaan (lower
left) concepts.
Salaff was a key
member of the
design team that
created the racecar
based 2008
Mazda Furai
Concept
(lower right).
Photos courtesy
Mazda USA
OF THINGS – BUT NEARLY ALWAYS ‘COOL.’