Hasta La Ideas

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pLast month we reported on A HREF=”http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/bmw_designworksusa_shares_design_knowledge_with_embraer_16431.asp” design cross-pollination by BMW’s DesignWorks USA/A, which has branched out, like Porsche Design, to apply their design expertise outside of the automotive realm. Now yet another German car manufacturer will be joining this game: A HREF=”http://www.emercedesbenz.com/autos/mercedes-benz/concept-vehicles/mercedes-benz-style-expands-its-reach-beyond-land-to-air-and-sea/” Mercedes has announced/A that “the portfolio of the newly established ‘Mercedes-Benz Style’ division will comprise not only transport-related products, but also furniture and lifestyle products and industrial design” through special licensing agreements./p

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blockquote”Our unique design expertise is appreciated throughout the world. We have therefore decided to establish the Mercedes-Benz specific styling outside the automotive field too – and so far we have met with a very positive response from a great number of manufacturers in a variety of sectors”, explains Professor h.c. Gorden Wagener, Head of Design at Mercedes-Benz….

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p”Mercedes-Benz Style” undertakes both commissioned work, for which the rights to the styling service are sold to the product manufacturer, and also the allocation of design licences – in which case a product manufacturer will be granted the right to use the styling, but all rights to the styling remain with Mercedes-Benz…./p

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p”Whether we are dealing with commissioned work or will grant licenses, basically the same principle applies: the product and the manufacturer must both match our premium standards and represent innovation, as well as trend-setting, enduring style”, explains Gorden Wagener./blockquote/p

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pWe suppose it’s a sign of the (economic) times that even Mercedes is now trying to turn their design resources into a new revenue stream. We also find it interesting that it is primarily German and Italian car firms branching out, while the Japanese auto manufacturers, which have similarly strong cultures of design, have not./p

pAnother thing we wonder about: Will these big dogs of the design world begin cannibalizing the business of non-automotive design firms, drinking their milkshakes, so to speak? /p

pFor now, mid-level design firms will have little to fear from Mercedes; for now that firm will focus on the luxury vehicle market, tackling helicopters and yachts./pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/business/mercedes_design_too_will_spread_outside_of_the_automotive_realm_16502.asp”(more…)/a
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pimg alt=”ec_culture.png” src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/ec_culture.png” width=”468″ height=”85″ class=”mt-image-center” style=”text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;” //p

pYesterday, the European Commission launched an a href=”http://ec.europa.eu/culture/our-policy-development/doc2577_en.htm”online public consultation/a aimed at unlocking the full potential of Europe’s cultural and creative industries. /p

pThe consultation is linked to a new a href=”http://ec.europa.eu/culture/our-policy-development/doc2577_en.htm”Green Paper/a which highlights the need to improve access to finance, especially for small businesses, as key to enabling the sector to flourish and to contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth./p

pThe sector, which includes performing arts, visual arts, cultural heritage, film, television and radio, music, publishing, video games, new media, architecture, design, fashion design and advertising, provides quality jobs for 5 million people in the EU./p

pIt contributes 2.6% to European GDP – which is more than many manufacturing industries achieve. The cultural and creative industries are also growing faster than most parts of the economy, as digitization and globalization are opening new market opportunities, in particular for small businesses. /p

p a href=”http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/466format=HTMLaged=0language=ENguiLanguage=en”Read press release/a/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/business/unlocking_the_potential_of_europes_cultural_and_creative_industries_16467.asp”(more…)/a
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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
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It’s been a long week, so let’s start off light this morning. You know how much we enjoy a strange, semi-designed based legal fight (the last we posted was about disposable cups), and we’ve found maybe the best yet. The site Techdirt discovered a lawsuit filed by Stagecraft Costuming Corporation of Cincinnati against New Jersey’s own HouseHaunters Limited Liability Company (as well as any retailers they’ve sold to) over a particular costume design the former said the latter had blatantly copied. The costume in question? We’ll let the first paragraph from the legal filing do the talking:

This action arises from HouseHaunters’ slavish copying of Stagecraft’s copyrighted costume titled The Man in the Cage. The costume — which is highly original, successful, and well known — creates the illusion that the wearer is trapped inside a cage held by a large gorilla. Recognizing the originality and creativity of the costume, HouseHaunters infringed Stagecraft’s copyright and trade dress by creating and selling a nearly identical version of the costume called “Get Me Out of the Cage Gorilla Costume.”

If you read one legal document today, please make it this one. It’s a little dry after that, but come the “Factual Allegations” section, starting on page 4, you’ll be in bizarre document heaven once more.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

pCore-fave Jan Chiphase, principal researcher at Nokia and roving global thinker on mobile culture, will become frog design’s Executive Creative Director of Global Insights, based in frog’s Shanghai studio. Here’s from the press release:/p

blockquoteChipchase joins frog from Nokia, where as a principal researcher he studied behavioral patterns that informed the development of new products based on emerging consumer trends. With deep experience in running complex, international design research projects, he is widely considered to be the authority on applying human-centered insights to the development process. His extensive research projects have taken him around the world to collect insights into the broader emotional, social, and cultural contexts of the impact of technology. Recent projects include research studies into the design of mobile money services for emerging markets; travel to Uganda to look at shared phone use; trips to India to examine how design can make mobile devices more accessible to people with low or non-existent levels of literacy; and a study in South Korea exploring how early adopters were reacting to the then recently launched mobile TV./blockquote

pRead more (later today) at a href=”http://janchipchase.com/”janchipchase.com/a and at a href=”http://www.frogdesign.com”frog design/a. /pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/business/think_global_jan_chipchase_moves_to_frog_design_16322.asp”(more…)/a
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