The beginnings
“It all started back in 1972 when Charles W. Pelly…. We call him Chuck… started his little design firm in a garage in Malibu”, says Peter Falt, responsible at Designworks for strategic partnerships, looking back at his firm’s origins, “the first project for BMW was in 1986.” The assignment was the design of the seating concept for the luxury coupé BMW 850. The result was that the concern management was so happy with the result that they invested in the American design office and in 1995 took it over completely. Now Designworks is based in an industrial zone in Newbury Park, a half and hour’s drive north from Los Angeles.
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- The campus with its low buildings on Corporate Center Drive in Oxnard looks very modern and scrupulously well cared for. But the doors of the design centre are not open to all comers. Gaining access means thorough vetting and those allowed in a sworn to secrecy.
Top secret
The campus with its low buildings on Corporate Center Drive in Oxnard looks very modern and scrupulously well cared for. But the doors of the design centre are not open to all comers. Gaining access means thorough vetting and those allowed in a sworn to secrecy. As well as the head office in there are Designworks branches in Munich, Singapore and from this spring also in Shanghai. 135 people work for Designworks and they come from 25 different countries. For several years the studio was headed by Hendrik Fisker and then by Adrian van Hooydonk, today head of design for BMW in Munich. “The world is moving fast, a wide variety of products demands a holistic approach, cleverly orchestrated solutions with long term validity. With big companies creativity can only thrive when it is part of the overall strategy”, adds Laurenz Schaffer, now president of Designworks , “change is the new normal.”
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- “Half of the work we do is for the BMW group, the rest is for outside clients who often have nothing to do with the automobile industry”, says Peter Falt.
Spotting the trends
“Half of the work we do is for the BMW group, the rest is for outside clients who often have nothing to do with the automobile industry”, says Peter Falt. The creative competence of BMW’s design subsidiary has over the years become widely recognized and esteemed. Clients include such major players as Siemens, Hewlett Packard, Sony, Saeco or Scania. But there are clients like CocaCola, Starbucks and the airplane maker Embraer who ask Designworks to develop anything from coffee machines to computers, drinks vending machines to aircraft interiors. “It is not just about producing ideas. Our clients want to see earnings… and so our work is judged by the success of the products we develop”, Peter Falt emphasizes. The creatives in their glass offices handle up to 75 different projects each year. The atmosphere is laid back, the mood is upbeat but this is not the exclusive preserve of free spirits with their heads in the clouds. “First and foremost we are a consultancy”, says Laura Robin, a director at Designworks, “we take into account all possible trend developments. But it is not simply a matter of figuring out how many women will buy the next BMW X3. Our radar is tuned to many things in entirely different thematic areas.”
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- At the end of the day it all comes down to craftsmanship, work executed by hand. After computer modelling there’s the clay model stage.
The Madonna strategy
As well as trade fairs, fashion and urban trends Designworks is also paying close attention to the developments enabled by the internet. “There are ephemeral restaurants which you can only discover via Twitter and pop-up shops which seem to spring out of the ground”, explains Peter Falt, “all of this affects our work and the products we create in a very new way. Although at the end of the day it all comes down to craftsmanship, work executed by hand. After computer modelling there’s the clay model stage.” The designers at the BMW campus have been keeping their eye on the phenomenon that is the pop icon Madonna. Laura Robin: “The only reason she has remained successful for twenty years is that she has constantly re-invented herself. This is something big firms need to learn. There is always the need to stay flexible and to adapt to new trends as they emerge.”
