Fashion Meets Motoring As Greg Williams And Mai Ikuzawa Join Bentley

The duo talk about what’s next for this beloved British brand, from their first memories of Bentley to what’s coming next in its evolution.

Felicity Carter: What excites you most about stepping into this role at Bentley?

Greg Williams: I don’t yet know what we’re going to do, but I know how it needs to feel. That it needs to be a creative process and collaboration, which is exactly how I feel I find my photos when I work with artists. So this idea of collaborating with other creatives is deeply exciting to me. I have this attitude that I learned from photographing Bond, which is finding the beauty in looking at someone relaxed, who has the ability to do something at the drop of a hat, but it doesn’t mean they’re showboating. I feel similarly about Bentley; I don’t think Bentley needs to scream and shout about what it does. They have earnt the confidence to say, ‘we’re Bentley, we do it our way’. I like this idea of showing, not telling, and that’s also a theme in my photography. I also like to think I know what Bentley is. Or rather, why people want to own a Bentley over other luxury cars. I bought my first Bentley in 2008 and I’ve got a real sense of what the brand ought to be and mean, and how that would manifest in image making. This is an opportunity to play a central role in reshaping a brand that I love and feel really close to.

Mai Ikuzawa: It’s honestly overwhelming, I’m almost speechless. When you look at the landscape of car brands today, Bentley really stands apart. It has remained at the top for decades, with a rich heritage that hasn’t been fully celebrated in recent years. The brand’s story is filled with incredible people, the Bentley Boys, the Bentley Girls, brilliant, passionate individuals who have shaped its history. And, of course, the cars themselves have been icons in their own right. What excites me is the opportunity to take all of that history and spirit and make Bentley feel extremely confident and relevant in the 21st century. To build on the brand’s legacy while injecting a fresh perspective, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

FC: Being the first external creative directors in the brand’s history is a big milestone, what does that mean to you personally?

GW: It’s an opportunity of a lifetime. We’re trying to put together a rule book or a mantra for the company’s visual presentation that goes all the way from their global campaigns down to their dealerships. It all needs to have a cohesive feel to it. And to me, that is all about authenticity. In a world of AI where everyone’s an image maker and it’s relatively easy to make pictures that ostensibly sort of feel luxurious, you can no longer trust perfection in imagery. But for me, we’re in an era where people buy based on emotion. They have to love what they’re buying and they have to care for it. So, to me, it’s all about feeling, and a lack of perfection.

MI: I don’t think it’s just a milestone for Bentley, I think it’s a milestone for the car industry as a whole. For me personally, it’s incredibly bold of Adrian Hallmark and the team to appoint someone like me: I’m Japanese, a woman, a mother, a creative director with a very unconventional background. I’m also not exactly a household name. And yet, Bentley has trusted me with this role. To be part of such a historic brand and to help shape its future is beyond exciting. It’s not about me being in the spotlight; it’s about pushing the whole industry forward. I want to bring a sense of revolution, to help Bentley inspire a new generation while celebrating the passion that already lives within the brand.

FC: The brand has such a rich heritage, how do you go about striking a balance between honoring that history and pushing into the future?

GW: I want to keep to the values that I think Bentley has had since its creation, the Bentley boys and girls of the 1920s. There’s a danger that we become so modern that we forget about our past. I think we need to find a way to bring the fantastic history and the rich past of Bentley on a modern journey, rather than abandoning it for the new, new, new. I want to create Bentley images that people could glance at without a logo and immediately associate it with Bentley.

MI: That’s exactly why Bentley approached me. With my own brand, Team Ikuzawa, originally founded by my father, a celebrated Japanese racing driver in the ’60s and ’70s, I’ve worked to celebrate motorsport heritage while making it relevant for today’s audience. Bentley saw parallels in that approach. You can’t ignore history, it’s the foundation of everything. But you also can’t get stuck in it. The trick is to embrace authenticity, to celebrate the past while presenting it in a way that excites younger generations. We all had posters of supercars on our walls as kids, that’s how the dream starts. If Bentley can recapture that magic for a new generation, it will thrive well into the future.

FC: Outside the automotive world, where do you find inspiration?

MI: Honestly, I live in the automotive world. But what makes me different is that I come from the creative industries, fashion, art, luxury design. Many of the people I collaborate with share that same crossover passion for cars and motorcycles, which gives projects an incredible energy.

For example, I worked with artist Daniel Arsham on an art car that raced at Goodwood Revival. That project grew out of a friendship formed in creative circles, but our shared love of cars turned it into something much bigger, a racing team, a capsule collection, and eventually global headlines.

For me, it always comes back to authenticity. The people I bring into projects, whether they’re photographers, designers, or riders are always deeply passionate. Grassroots racing, community spirit, and “bad roads bring good people” energy that’s the soul I want to bring into Bentley.

FC: If you could describe your creative vision for Bentley in three words, what would they be?

GW: Authentic. Confident. Insider.

MI: Sexy. Confident. Authentic.

FC: Do you remember the first time you encountered a Bentley and what impression it left?

GW: Yes, it was my Uncle Henry who was an amazing, larger-than-life character. My family was very poor and Uncle Henry drove a Bentley, it was very different to the life we were living. I was probably 6 or 7 years old when I met him and saw his Bentley, saw this powerful man with this gold watch and this amazing car. I just aspired to it immediately.

MI: Yes, my family has owned Bentleys in the past, including a Turbo R and a Continental GT Supersports. We bought them through Jack Barclay in Mayfair. For me, the impression has always been of this beautiful duality: stealth elegance on the outside, with phenomenal power under the bonnet. Growing up between Tokyo and London, that combination of British elegance and Japanese precision has always been part of my life. Bentley has been woven into that cultural fabric for me since childhood.

FC: How do you see company evolving as ideas of modern luxury shift?

GW: Modern luxury is shifting – in order to stand out from the crowd, you have to have an offering which is much more distinctive, ownable and less predictable. There is something special about Bentley; the history, Crewe, that slightly handmade reputation that they have. The evolution would be to create imagery that’s distinctive and authentic, but that also gets back to the core understanding of the Bentley brand.

MI: Luxury today is very different from the old definitions of “old money.” We live in a world where so much beauty and design is accessible. What feels truly luxurious now is adventure, freedom, and belonging.

Bentley has always embodied understated British elegance, but its cars also deliver exhilarating performance and craftsmanship. That duality, refinement and thrill is something worth celebrating. What I want to bring back is the sense of belonging that Bentley once had the spirit of the Bentley Boys and Girls, the community, the culture. In the past, there was even a Bentley Corner in Grosvenor Square where owners and enthusiasts gathered. That’s the energy I want to revive a playful, adventurous, yet deeply elegant spirit that makes Bentley not just a car, but a culture.

FC: You’ve already started working together on projects, what’s the creative chemistry like between you?

GW: The lovely thing is we hit it off immediately and are, on occasion, already finishing each other’s sentences!

MI: Honestly, it feels psychic at times. We instinctively know what the other is thinking and where we want to take the brand. We’re both incredibly passionate about Bentley and completely aligned in wanting to make it feel relevant, exciting, and authentic. In our very first presentation for the board, we both referenced similar ideas, street culture, sports culture, and community. We both cut through the noise and speak from the heart. No pretence, no politics, just authenticity. And that’s the energy we want to infuse into every project we do with Bentley.