17 Facts About Tom Karen

Thomas Josef Derrick Paul Karen was a British industrial designer.

Tom Karen was managing director and chief designer of Ogle Design from 1962 until 1999.

Tom Karen oversaw design of the Bush Radio TR130 radio, the Raleigh Chopper although Ian Oakley's famous envelope sketch which came to light in 2018 shows that he was largely responsible for the design, the Bond Bug, the Reliant Scimitar GTE, the Anadol A1, a series of lorry cabs for Leyland, and the Marble Run toy.

Tom Karen was born as Thomas Kohn in Vienna on 20 March 1926, to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, and went to school in Brno.

The family left Czechoslovakia in 1939, and Tom Karen reached England in 1942.

Tom Karen worked for Hunting Percival, makers of the Proctor and the Provost trainer, then the Air Registration Board.

Tom Karen enrolled at the Central School of Arts and Crafts.

Tom Karen joined the Ford design studio in 1955, where he won The Institute of British Carriage and Automobile Manufacturers car design competition and worked on the interior trim for the Ford Anglia 105E.

Tom Karen did not stay very long, moving to Hotpoint as Senior Designer, before moving onto Philips, where he became Product Design Manager, setting up their studio for white goods.

In 1962, Tom Karen was invited to take charge of Ogle Design following the death of David Ogle from a car accident in Tom Karen's design, the Ogle SX1000.

Tom Karen was managing director and chief designer until 1999.

Cars designed by Tom Karen include the Reliant Scimitar, the Reliant Robin and its cousin the Reliant Kitten, plus the Bond Bug.

Tom Karen designed the Triplex Aston Martin show car in 1972.

In 1969, Ogle Design, under Tom Karen, was given the task to design a modern caravan for the recently acquired Eccles brand of caravans for CI by Sam Alper of Sprite Caravans and the relationship between Ogle and CI continued until 1975.

In March 1969, shortly after the launch of the Reliant Scimitar GTE which he had designed, and of the Ford Capri, Tom Karen had the opportunity to give his opinion on fastback designs.

In 2001, Tom Karen received an honorary degree from Loughborough University.

In 2018, Tom Karen was appointed an OBE in the 2019 New Year Honours for his services to design.