Hasta La Ideas

Bacteria from personalities including artist Olafur Eliasson, curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and chef Michael Pollan have been used to make human cheese as part of an exhibition about synthetic biology in Dublin.

American scientist Christina Agapakis and Norwegian scent expert Sissel Tolaas collected bacteria from Obrist’s nose, Eliasson’s tears and Pollan’s belly button and used them to make the artisanal dairy products.

“We are presenting a set of cheeses made using bacteria from the human body,” Agapakis told Dezeen. “Everybody has a unique and diverse set of bacteria living on their skin that can be amplified using techniques from microbiology and grown directly in milk to form and flavour each cheese.”

The project, called Selfmade, features eleven cheeses in total, made from bacterial cultures harvested from the skin of artists, scientists, anthropologists, and cheese makers using sterile cotton swabs that were sent to the donors.

The cheeses each smell, and taste, of the body odour of the donor, Agapakis said.

“It’s no surprise that sometimes cheese odours and body odours are similar,” she explained. “But when we started working together we were surprised by how not only do cheese and smelly body parts like feet share similar odour molecules but also have similar microbial populations.”

The project aims to demonstrate how living organisms that exist in the body also exist in food, and vice versa, and how microbiology can be used to harness and manipulate such organisms to create synthetic microbes with enhanced properties.

“Despite [their] chemical and biological similarities, there are obviously very different cultural and emotional responses to stinky cheese and stinky feet,” said Agapakis. “By making cheese directly from the microbes on the body, we want to highlight these bacterial connections as well as to question and potentially expand the role of both odours and microbes in our lives.”

“Nobody will eat these cheeses, but we hope that the cheese can inspire new conversations about our relationship to the body and to our bacteria.”

The cheeses form part of the Grow Your Own – Life After Nature exhibition at the Science Gallery in Dublin.

The show also features curator Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg’s proposal to create synthetic creatures to help solve environmental problems and a concept for humans giving birth to animals such as dolphins that they could then eat.

In their artistic statement about the project, Agapakis and Tolaas say they hope to draw attention to the importance and potential of bacteria and to overcome a cultural fear of micro-organisms.

“Can knowledge and tolerance of bacterial cultures in our food improve tolerance of the bacteria on our bodies?” they write. “How do humans cultivate and value bacterial cultures on cheeses and fermented foods? How will synthetic biology change with a better understanding of how species of bacteria work together in nature as opposed to the pure cultures of the lab?”

Grow Your Own – Life After Nature is at the Science Gallery in Dublin until 19 January 2014.

Here’s some more info from Agapakis and Tolaas:

Selfmade

The growing awareness of human microbial ecology and its influence on health is leading to wider understanding of the body as a superorganism; a collection of human and microbial cells that interact in numerous and unexpected ways. In this paradigm, notions of self and other, and of health and disease, are shifting to accommodate more ecological concepts of diversity and symbiosis.

Selfmade is a series of ‘microbial sketches’, portraits reflecting an individual’s microbial landscape in a unique cheese. Each cheese is crafted from starter cultures sampled from the skin of a different person. Isolated microbial strains were identified and characterised using microbiological techniques and 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing. Like the human body, each cheese has a unique set of microbes that metabolically shape a unique odour.

Cheese odours were sampled and characterised using headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, a technique used to identify and/or quantify volatile organic compounds present in a sample. A short film documenting the process of cheesemaking, along with interviews of the bacterial donors accompanies the cheese display and the data from microbiological and odour analysis. Visitors to the gallery are exposed to the diversity of life in their food and bodies, and a diversity of visions for future synthetic biologies.

This project explores possibilities for a relational synthetic biology through the practices of cheesemaking. Cheesemaking involves a complex coordination of microbial life, promoting the growth of beneficial Lactobacillus strains that protect milk from more dangerous spoilage and the ecologies of microbes on the rind that create the prized flavours of different cheese varieties.

Those involved with synthetic biology are intent on transforming microbes into the useful machines of a new bioeconomy. In the short term, this is accomplished by isolating engineered strains and limiting microbial interactions in stainless steel reactors. However, the appeal of potential medium-term applications in the production of foods, environmental biosensors, or ‘smart’ living therapeutics demonstrates the power of thinking beyond the bioreactor.

Such approaches require addressing ecological concerns about the safety and complexity of interactions with other organisms, highlighting the need for a more relational synthetic biology. Understanding the biological networks inside cells as well as the networks of organisms, regulatory systems, economic structures, and cultural practices that shape the life of an engineered organism in the world will be crucial to the development of synthetic biologies in the long term.

Artist’s Statement

We not only live in a biological world surrounded by rich communities of microorganisms, but in a cultural world that emphasises total antisepsis. The intersection of our interests in smell and microbial communities led us to focus on cheese as a ‘model organism’. Many of the stinkiest cheeses are hosts to species of bacteria closely related to the bacteria responsible for the characteristic smells of human armpits or feet.

Can knowledge and tolerance of bacterial cultures in our food improve tolerance of the bacteria on our bodies? How do humans cultivate and value bacterial cultures on cheeses and fermented foods? How will synthetic biology change with a better understanding of how species of bacteria work together in nature as opposed to the pure cultures of the lab?”

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to make human cheese appeared first on Dezeen.

Competition: Dezeen has teamed up with Intier Automotive Eybl to give readers the chance to win one of three chairs moulded from flax.

The FLAXX Chair by Austrian designer Martin Mostböck has a seat shell made from natural flax fibres taken from linseed crops, which are moulded into a three-dimensional form by pressing multiple layers of the material.

All four legs are connected at the front of the chair, so the seat and backrest are cantilevered. This form allows the chairs to neatly stack on top of each other.

Available in a range of colours, the pictured model with a sand seat and white frame will be received by winners of this competition. For more information about the design visit the FLAXX website or check out the company on Facebook.

To enter this competition email your name, age, gender, occupation, and delivery address and telephone number to competitions@dezeen.com with “Flaxx chair” in the subject line. We won’t pass your information on to anyone else; we just want to know a little about our readers. Read our privacy policy here.

You need to subscribe to our newsletter to have a chance of winning. Sign up here.

Competition closes 18 December 2013. Three winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeen Mail newsletter and at the top of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

Here’s some more information from Intier Automotive Eybl:

The FLAXX Chair is a hybrid design which offers the comfort of a free-swinging chair as well as the functionality of a conventional four-legged chair. The novel structure of the support frame and the combination of advantages from both designs is a contemporary interpretation in both form and function. The seat shell is made from natural fibre mats, which are moulded into a stable three-dimensional form by pressing multiple layers of the material. The mats predominantly consist of flax, an annually renewable raw material, and are held together by textile polypropylene as an adhesive.

The seat shell and frame are made of 100 percent recyclable materials. The FLAXX chair is part of permanent collection of the Design Museum Holon/Tel Aviv and the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art – MAK in Vienna.

www.flaxx.at

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chairs to be won appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen Music Project: viewers of the first official video for American musician Bob Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone can change channels that mimic TV formats to watch people lip-syncing to the 1965 track.

The interactive video by digital agency Interlude allows the viewer to swap between channels and watch different presenters and characters sing along to Dylan’s iconic track.

The 16 channels include a financial market update, a live cooking demonstration and sports highlights. One features archive footage of Dylan himself singing the track.

You can also watch a couple flirt in a romantic comedy or an argument on a soap opera, all while mouthing the track’s lyrics.

“I’m using the medium of television to look back right at us – you’re flipping yourself to death with switching channels [in real life],” director Vania Heymann told Mashable.

Buttons on a panel down the left hand side of the screen and up and down keyboard buttons are used to flick between the channels, bringing up an info bar with the channel’s name, number and description each time.

This is the first official music video for the track, which has been created to coincide with the release of Bob Dylan’s CD box set The Complete Album Collection.

The song reached number two in the charts when it was released in 1965 and was voted Greatest Song of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine.

The film was made using software called Treehouse, which Interlude created themselves.

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Like A Rolling Stone appeared first on Dezeen.

Technology will increasingly be integrated into the body “to extend our abilities, our knowledge and our perceptions of reality”, according to Neil Harbisson, the first officially recognised human cyborg (+ interview).

“We will stop using technology as a tool and we’ll start using technology as part of the body,” said Barcelona-based Harbisson, who wears a head-mounted antenna attached to a chip at the back of his skull that allows him to perceive colours. “I think this will be much more common in the next few years.”

Harbisson wears the “eyeborg” headset to overcome a visual impairment called achromatopsia, which means he sees the world in shades of grey. The eyeborg turns colours into sounds, allowing him to “hear” them and meaning he qualifies as a cyborg, or cybernetic organism – a living being with both natural and artificial parts.

“Feeling like a cyborg was a gradual process,” he said. “First, I felt that the eyeborg was giving me information, afterwards I felt it was giving me perception, and after a while it gave me feelings. It was when I started to feel colour and started to dream in colour that I felt the extension was part of my organism.”

“The sounds are transmitted through my bone to my inner ear, which allows me to interpret what colours are according to the different sign waves of each sound.”

Harbisson charges his eyeborg via a USB power cable that attaches to the back of his head. “The aim [in future] is not to use electricity but to start finding ways of charging the chip [in my head] with my own body energy,” he explains. “I might be using blood circulation or my kinetic energy, or maybe the energy of my brain could charge the chip in the future.”

“Instead of using technology or wearing technology constantly, we will start becoming technology,” Harbisson told Dezeen. “It’s a very exciting moment in history that allows us to perceive reality in a greater way.”

After a long battle with the UK authorities, Harbisson’s passport now carries a photo of him wearing his eyeborg, making him the world’s first government-recognised cyborg.

In 2010, Harbisson founded the Cyborg Foundation – an organisation whose mission statement is to “help humans become cyborgs, to promote the use of cybernetics as part of the human body and to defend cyborg rights [whilst] encouraging people to create their own sensory extensions”.

Harbisson believes that recent technological advances mean there will be a rapid growth in the number of people with cybernetic implants that give them enhanced abilities. This in turn will change what it means to be human.

“Our instincts and our bodies will change,” he said. “When you incorporate technology into the body, the body will need to change to accommodate; it modifies and adapts to new inputs. How we adapt to this change will be very interesting.”

Other human cyborgs include Stelarc, a performance artist who has implanted a hearing ear on his forearm; Kevin Warwick, the “world’s first human cyborg” who has an RFID chip embedded beneath his skin, allowing him to control devices such as lights, doors and heaters; and “DIY cyborg” Tim Cannon, who has a self-administered body-monitoring device in his arm.

However, Harbisson is sceptical of Cannon’s cyborg credentials. “Tim is a very different user of technology because I’m not sure if he’s extending senses of perception,” said Harbisson. Cannon’s device allows him to know the temperature of his body, whereas “the projects that the Cyborg Foundation is interested in extend senses and perception.”

Harbisson has created a series of artworks using his eyeborg, creating sound portraits by scanning people’s faces for different hues and turning the tones into short musical compositions.

The device also allows him to “listen” to architectural structures. The work of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí is his favourite: “All of the spaces in his buildings have very interesting spaces that are just musical,” he says.

Here is a full transcript of the interview:

Ross Bryant: Firstly could you introduce yourself and tell us what you do.

Neil Harbisson: I’m an artist that wears an eyeborg, which allows me to perceive colour. I do colour concerts where I connect my eye to loudspeakers and I create sound portraits from looking at people’s faces. I also do exhibitions where I exhibit the colours of music or the colours of sound. I transpose music into paintings as well as working with the Cyborg Foundation in Barcelona. We start projects relating to extending other people’s senses by applying technology to the body.

Ross Bryant: Can you describe how you can hear colour?

Neil Harbisson: I have an antenna attached to my head that receives the light frequencies of the colours in front of me. These senses are connected to a chip in the back of my head that transposes light frequencies to sound frequencies. I see colours through a method of bone conduction.

Ross Bryant: You can do this because of the eyeborg. Can you briefly describe why you began the process of developing the eyeborg as well as beginning the process of becoming a cyborg?

Neil Harbisson: I was born completely colour-blind, so from a child I wanted to perceive colour. Then when I met Adam Montandon ten years ago, I realised that technology could be used to expand senses. I asked him if he could start a project to extend my senses and we began with this project. The first prototype was based on software, a five-kilo computer and a pair of headphones. We tried to find other people to make the extension smaller and more user-friendly and now it’s in in this form of a chip and a sensor.

Ross Bryant: Before the creation of the Eyeborg, how did not being able to perceive colour affect you personally?

Neil Harbisson: Not seeing colour didn’t make me feel disabled, it made me feel socially excluded. This alienation made me hate colour’s existence, but I came to realise that I couldn’t ignore colour forever – even if I couldn’t see it.

Ross Bryant: How do you charge the Eyeborg up? Do you connect it wirelessly or do you have to connect yourself up?

Neil Harbisson: I have like a USB-like connector that I put at the back of the head which allows me to plug myself in to the mains. I take three hours to charge myself and then I can go usually three or four days, but the aim is not to use electricity. One of the next stages is to find a way of charging the chip with my own body energy, so I might be using blood circulation or my kinetic energy – or maybe the energy of my brain could charge the chip in the future. That’s one of the next things; to be able to charge the chip without depending on any external energy.

Ross Bryant: How does the eyeborg communicate the sound of colour to you?

Neil Harbisson: Each colour has a specific frequency that I can hear because of the Eyeborg. Infrared is the lowest sound and ultraviolet is the highest sound. I hear them through bone conduction. Basically, the sound goes to the back of the head and then my inner ear hears the different sign waves.

Ross Bryant: You can perceive ultraviolet light and infrared? Are these upgraded functionalities to the Eyeborg?

Neil Harbisson: Before it was all about upgrading the software, now we just upgrade the chip. We continue extending and upgrading the cybernetics and that’s the good thing about cybernetics – you can keep upgrading the senses and perceiving more and more the longer you use it I guess. There’s no end. So, I can now perceive near infrared and near ultraviolet, but the next stage is to perceive them from afar and just continue to extend this to be able to hear colours underwater and also in space.

Ross Bryant: Have you heard of Tim Cannon and the DIY cyborg? What are your thoughts?

Neil Harbisson: He is a very different user of technology because I’m not sure if he’s extending senses of perception. Tim’s device just allows him to know the temperature of his body, which is just giving him information. The projects that we’re interested in at the Cyborg Foundation are those that extend senses and perception, not just the extension of information or abilities.

Ross Bryant: How do you think our relationship with technology is changing and what are your predictions for the future of cybernetics?

Neil Harbisson: I think the biggest change during this century will be that we will stop using technology as a tool and start using technology as part of the body. One way might be to extend our abilities or our knowledge, and other ways of using it would be to enhance our senses and perception of reality. I think this will be much more common in the next few years. Instead of using technology or wearing technology constantly, we will start becoming technology.

It’s a very exciting moment in history – to perceive reality in a greater way. Our instincts and our bodies will change. When you incorporate technology into the body, the body will need to change to accommodate; it modifies and adapts to this new input. How we adapt to this change will be very interesting.

Ross Bryant: Do you think anything will exist in the near future that will enhance people’s perception?

Neil Harbisson: I think we will start with very simple things like bone conduction. It’s very simple and gives you the advantage of having a new audio input. Having bone conduction sensors is something we could use a lot. We will have antennas for different reasons. In my case, I’m using an antenna to perceive colour, but antennas could be used for perceiving many other things that we cannot perceive.

Having a bone input gives us a sense that doesn’t block any other senses, so I think this gives us a lot of options. Also, just having sensors at the back of our body is something you can do simply with very simple technology. This enables you to have some sort of sense of what’s behind you. Also, what we’d like to see is people using small, infrared sensors that vibrate so you know when there’s someone behind which creates a 360 degree perception. Then there’s other things such as orientation. Having a small compass implanted that vibrates whenever you face north could help a lot.

Ross Bryant: Do you have a favourite architect that you enjoy listening to?

Neil Harbisson: Yes! I enjoy listening to Antoni Gaudí’s architecture. All of the spaces in his buildings have very interesting spaces that are just musical.

Ross Bryant: You were officially recognised as a cyborg in the UK in 2004 after you battled to have the Eyeborg included in your passport photo. Are there others with this recognised status or are you the first?

Neil Harbisson: I don’t think I’m the first of anything. I just know that the government in England wouldn’t allow me to have the electronic eye on my passport photo. I insisted that I wanted to have it included in the photo as it was an extension of my senses and a part of my body. In my case, I had to send many letters.

Ross Bryant: What cyborg rights would you like to see implemented?

Neil Harbisson: Human rights, but applied to people who wear technology as part of their body. There’s public places that don’t allow people in if they wear electronic devices and that’s why we defend the rights of cyborgs. We defend their rights to go into these places. It’s not creating new rights, it’s just defending basic rights really.

Ross Bryant: At what point did you begin to feel like a cyborg?

Neil Harbisson: Feeling like a cyborg was a gradual process. First, I felt that the eyeborg was giving me information, afterwards I felt it was giving me perception, and after a while it gave me feelings. It was when I started to feel colour and started to dream in colour that I felt the extension was part of my organism.

Ross Bryant: Am I right in saying that you designed a fashion range based on people’s favourite music?

Neil Harbisson: Yeah, we designed clothes that sound good. We created a full collection but now we just have a tie, a dress and a pair of trousers that are specific songs. Depending on what kind of colours you use, the piece of clothing will sound just like a specific song.

Ross Bryant: How do you think cybernetics will transform design, art and fashion in the future?

Neil Harbisson: The good thing about cybernetics is that it can allow you to have new senses. When you have a new sense, you can express yourself through it in a way that has never been explored before in fashion, architecture or any other type of art that exists. It’s about exploring whole new possibilities, new senses that you can express who you are.

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says human cyborg appeared first on Dezeen.

Interview: the designer of the original 1959 MINI “would have a lot of respect for the cleverness” of the latest incarnation of the car, according to Adrian van Hooydonk, head of design at MINI parent company BMW Group (+ slideshow + interview).

“I think he would simply be happy that MINI as a brand is alive and kicking today,” Van Hooydonk told Dezeen at the global launch party for the new MINI, held in London last night. “He probably would not have imagined that in his wildest dreams.”

The launch was held on what would have been the birthday of Greek-born engineer Alec Issigonis, who was born in 1906 and died in 1988.

“I think he would have a lot of respect for the cleverness of the engineering,” said van Hooydonk. “I think he would also respect us for being such a custodian of the original idea. Doing a car that is as compact as this in today’s world is actually quite an achievement.”

The car was originally launched in 1959 by UK conglomerate British Motor Corporation, with Issigonis’ compact design, which featured a revolutionary space-saving transverse engine, remaining on sale more or less unchanged until 2000.

The iconic British marque was acquired by German car brand BMW Group in 1994 and relaunched in 2001. Yesterday’s launch is the second major overhaul of the car since then.

“I think it has worked out very well,” said van Hooydonk of the acquisition. “BMW has been very respectful of MINI’s history.”

The new-look MINI is longer, wider and taller than its predecessor, partly due to modern safety regulations, van Hooydonk said. “I think the MINI is the most compact vehicle that any car company can do today because the safely requirements have become much tougher.”

The new car takes many design cues from the 1959 original, including short overhangs, round headlights and an enlarged front grille.

“[The grille] is now larger; it still has a MINI typical shape and it now refers to the MINI Mark 1, which also had a very large front,” van Hooydonk explained. “The headlamps and tail lamps are still referring to the iconic shapes but they are now packed with very modern LED technology.”

“To make a MINI recognisable as a MINI, you need to use full surfaces; rounded surfaces,” he continued. “But we’ve added sharp lines so the overall effect is one of a crisper car. I feel it’s a tighter car so the perception of quality and the actual building quality have gone up.”

The new MINI was developed by MINI head of design Anders Warming under the guidance of van Hooydonk. The car features a new platform, which it will share in future with a new generation of BMWs.

Van Hooydonk said that BMW Group investigated sharing the MINI platform with other car brands to save costs but in the end decided to develop the platform themselves. “We simply found that no one was able to do compact cars like MINI do,” he said. “Nobody had a package or the proportions that we need to do a MINI, so we decided to do it on our own. “

Here’s an edited transcript of the interview:

Marcus Fairs: It’s 19 years since BMW Group bought MINI and 12 years since the car was first relaunched. How has the marriage between a German corporation and a British marque worked out?

Adrian van Hooydonk: I think it has worked out very well. Of course it needed a Dutch guy in between to sort of translate…

Marcus Fairs: And a Danish guy [MINI head of design Anders Warming]?

Adrian van Hooydonk: And a Danish guy. It needs some neutral elements from small countries that have no car industry to make ends meet. BMW Group actually did very well because I think it was a decision with a lot of foresight, to keep hold of MINI, because I think people are going to look for smaller cars in the future.

People want cars that have a strong character. People don’t want boring cars. It’s perfectly set up for years to come. BMW has been very respectful of MINI’s history and the same is true for Rolls Royce [which BMW Group bought in 1998] so I think that’s been part of the success story. This is why MINI is still here today.

Marcus Fairs: What’s new about the new MINI?

Adrian Van Hooydonk: Well of course to make a MINI recognisable as a MINI, you need to use full surfaces; rounded surfaces. But we’ve added sharp lines so the overall effect is one of a crisper car. I feel it’s a tighter car so the perception of quality and the actual building quality have gone up.

On the front, we have redesigned the grille. It is now larger; it still has a MINI typical shape and it now refers to the [1959] MINI Mark 1, which also had a very large front. The headlamps and tail lamps are still referring to the iconic shapes but they are now packed with very modern LED technology. It has daytime running lights so you will be able to recognise the MINI day and night.

In the interior, the level of luxury has gone up considerably and it’s packed with very clever technology as well like internet connectivity and a heads-up display that you will see the most relevant navigation on. So I think we have upgraded the new car both inside and out while retaining this friendliness that MINI stands for.

Marcus Fairs: It’s also bigger. MINI is not such a small car any more. Why is MINI getting bigger?

Adrian van Hooydonk: I used to own and drive an original MINI when I was a little bit younger. I actually fitted in that car and I have to say I had one accident with that car; it was written off completely. I was happy that I got away unharmed and that answers your question pretty much. I think the MINI is the most compact vehicle that any car company can do today because the safely requirements have become much tougher and I think this is a good thing.

MINIs today are very safe and are filled with airbags and are designed and engineered to face things that our customers never want to experience. But I think any MINI will always be the most compact offering in its segment.

Marcus Fairs: What about the platform [the chassis and other major engineering components]?

Adrian Van Hooydonk: We developed a completely new platform, not just for this MINI, but the MINI was the lead car for this set of mechanicals. It will also lead to some new BMWs; some front-wheel drive BMWs. We looked at working with other brands to share the platform but in the end we developed this platform from scratch on our own.

We set the parameters in terms of proportions. As a design team, we were able to get the proportions for the new MINI just the way we wanted it, with very short overhangs. It’s a very compact vehicle; it’s slightly wider than the previous car. What is good for MINI will also be good for BMW later on.

Marcus Fairs: Why did you want to work with other car brands and why did that not happen in the end?

Adrian Van Hooydonk: If you are able to work on an architecture that will lead to, let’s say, twenty vehicles or so, that will give you some economy of scale. Our customers are prepared to pay a premium but that’s not unlimited. So we need to find a way to make it affordable and do more cars.

Doing one type of architecture will allow you to do that but as we scanned the industry, we simply found that no one was able to do compact cars like MINI do. Nobody had a package or the proportions that we need to do a MINI, so we decided to do it on our own.

Marcus Fairs: So this will lead to a new type of BMW based on this shared platform? Will BMWs and MINIs share other parts?

Adrian van Hooydonk: We have already shown a concept car called the Active Tourer, which will be a new type of BMW that will launch in the near future, which will also have front wheel drive. But if you know the concept car, then you will see that it looks completely different. Not even the gearshift or any button or any element from the MINI will be carried over to the BMW. It’s all happening underneath the skin; so in some suspension parts or mechanical parts where we were then able to get some economy of scale [there are shared parts] whilst keeping the brand identity of MINI and BMW very pure.

Marcus Fairs: BMW is now positioning itself as a mobility solutions provider rather than a car brand. It’s about helping people make mobility choices rather than simply selling them cars. How does that translate to MINI, which is a fun, urban brand?

Adrian van Hooydonk: That’s a very good question. MINI is a very urban brand so it’s designed for people who live in the city; people who lead a very active life. You can tell from looking at a MINI that the people that drive it like to enjoy life. MINI is not as serious as many of the car brands out there.

I think new mobility would fit the MINI brand. As it stands, the MINI product line-up actually uses far less fuel than the BMW brand does. So far, we don’t feel there’s an immediate lead to electrify a MINI; also a smaller car is a little harder to do.

We are launching a whole new brand, BMWi, to deal with that identity and we went a long way towards achieving zero emissions, making the car out of carbon fibre with the i3 [electric car] or reinventing the sports car with the 8 [plug-in hybrid concept car]. We learned a lot from those projects and that knowledge will certainly filter back into both the MINI brand and the BMW.

Marcus Fairs: If Alec Issigonis, who designed the original MINI, was to see the new MINI, what would he say?

Adrian van Hooydonk: He would probably say, in all honesty, that a lot of design has gone on, knowing that he wasn’t a designer – he was an engineer. I think the same is true for all products in the world today. I think he would have a lot of respect for the cleverness of the engineering. I think he would also respect us for being such a custodian of the original idea.

Doing a car that is as compact as this in today’s world is actually quite an achievement. I think he would simply be happy that MINI as a brand is alive and kicking today. He probably would not have imagined that in his wildest dreams.

Marcus Fairs: What’s the relationship between your design team at BMW Group and Anders Warming and his team at MINI? Is the new MINI their design or yours?

Adrian van Hooydonk: It’s his team’s design and we are more than colleagues, we are friends. He started a little bit later than I did in the company but we worked together in Design Works, [BMW Group’s] Californian studio. Now we are both in a position that we can give a direction to whole brands.

I like to give the design teams a lot of freedom. If there is a disagreement then that’s okay because people have different opinions about design. If they have no opinion or they start agreeing with me, that would be the moment that I would start worrying.

I know that Anders is an extremely talented designer because I’ve seen him sketch and I’ve seen him grow. And I know that he works the same way that I do. I feel very privileged to now have guys like him in charge of each of the brands that I lead. It makes my life easier and more rewarding, working with people like him.

Marcus Fairs: What’s the next step?

Adrian van Hooydonk: Well today we’ve just launched the new core car. It’s the anchor for the brand so you have to be respectful and careful. Now for the next cars that you’ll see coming from MINI are around the core cars. I think you can expect each of these cars to move away from the core cars slightly: more distinct identities for the other products, a little bit more about today’s MINI family which is very closely related we feel, to the core car. We want it to really grow as a family.

Marcus Fairs: What kind of family are you talking about?

Adrian van Hooydonk: Well that’s a question that I’m not really at liberty to answer now. You know that today the MINI family consists of seven cars. We are still investigating what the family will consist of. But the new family members that will come out will have more of a stand-alone character. You will recognise them as part of the MINI family, but each of them will have a more distinct character of their own which I think is the next step for the MINI brand.

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and kicking” says BMW design chief appeared first on Dezeen.