Hasta La Ideas

pimg alt=”0laurschaf.jpg” src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/0laurschaf.jpg” width=”468″ height=”385″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

pIWallpaper’s/I got a great A HREF=”http://www.wallpaper.com/cars/bmw-designworks/4297″ interview up with L.A.-based Laurenz Schaffer/A, the former frogdesign Design Manager who worked his way up through BMW DesignWorksUSA’s Munich Studio to become President of the whole kit ‘n caboodle. /p

pWith 11 years experience with the company under his belt, Schaffer is well familiar with the workings of BMWDWUSA (there’s got to be a better acronym). During the interview he sounds off on what makes them different from other “car design” companies that have branched out into product and other areas and also touches on design cross-pollination, helping to explain to the uninitiated how this can work. An excerpt:/p

blockquoteBWP: Is BMW Designworks more like Pininfarina or Italdesign then?/B
LS: My feeling is that there is not a good comparison to us. Most of the other design studios linked up with the automotive industry tend to have a strong emphasis exactly there. Pininfarina is famous for car design and this is 99.99% of its reputation, but with Designworks it’s a very different agenda. 50% is very successful work for our parent company’s different brands [BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce] and the other half is for diverse industries and famous companies. We’re working with Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Hewlett Packard — although there are smaller companies on that list as well — so we have a true balance. We’re not like some of the other examples that tend to be rather connected to one side.

pBWP: But does design cross-fertilization really occur from these relationships?/Bbr /
LS: We have intense knowledge in a very complex and vibrant industry — the car industry — that we can provide to external clients and vice versa. We can provide trends and findings through our specific clients. It’s very seldom you find such an approach in the industry. For example, a product designer originated the whole idea behind the BMW GINA concept at BMW Designworks. That reflects our concept of cross-fertilisation where people from one competency can come up with an idea that serves as an input for a very different discipline, in this case car design./blockquote/p

pRead the full interview A HREF=”http://www.wallpaper.com/cars/bmw-designworks/4297″ here/A.br /
/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/business/laurenz_schaffer_interview_day_one_on_the_job_at_bmw_designworksusa_16426.asp”(more…)/a
pa href=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/w_ojOEfzFOSToHUABFrSFV8U4iU/0/da”img src=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/w_ojOEfzFOSToHUABFrSFV8U4iU/0/di” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/abr/
a href=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/w_ojOEfzFOSToHUABFrSFV8U4iU/1/da”img src=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/w_ojOEfzFOSToHUABFrSFV8U4iU/1/di” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/a/p