RETRO & FUTURE

As the ex-chief designer of BMW,  Bangle is one of the most important figures in car design, the author of the new direction and design language in car design, as well as a very influential trendsetter in design in general in our current panorama, He is the man who can change the world, through his philosophy and point of view on life and design.

According to Wikipedia, Christopher Edward Bangle (born October 14, 1956) is an American automobile designer. Bangle is known best for his work as Chief of Design for BMW Group where he was responsible for the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce motor cars. Bangle was born in Ravenna, Ohio, and raised in Wausau, Wisconsin. After considering becoming a Methodist minister, Bangle attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, consequently earning a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master’s degree in Industrial Design. Bangle then started his career at Opel. The first work that he designed was the interior of the Junior concept car.

He later moved to Fiat and worked as a chief designer of the Fiat Coupe. He became the first American chief of design of BMW on October 1, 1992, where he designed the Z9 Gran Turismo concept car. His styling themes have generated intense controversy among automotive designers and have had a polarizing effect with respect to their visual cues. On February 3, 2009, Bangle announced that he was going to quit both his position at BMW and the auto industry altogether, to focus on his own design-related endeavors.

I had a great chance to meet him personally during a work shop, organized by Scuola Politechnica di design in Milano, I have to say that it was an outstanding experience in every way, He told us many stories explaining good design, the “kitchen” of design, and teaching us to think differently, “out of the box”,to take inspiration from unexpected sources. The theme of the workshop was: “An Endeavor in Discontinuity: Exterior Car Design of the Future”:

“Please pay attention to the word “Endeavor” in the title, which means ?to try hard to achieve something’. I believe if you want to do anything in life properly, particularly Car Design, you must do it with the spirit of ‘Endeavor’”

Chris Bangle

By the end of the workshop we had presented 3 concepts of future cars by using “non constant surfacing” or irregular, discontinuous surfaces. One of these concepts was to transform a retro car into a future one. For this reason we visited the “Alfa Romeo Museum” and sketched amazing pieces of Italian cars from the past for almost 3 hours. Unfortunately the work we completed during the workshop is confidential for the moment, But I promise to publish everything once it is authorized to go public.

Currently Chris is running his own advanced design studio: “Chis Bangle Associates”. It is based in Piemonte, Italy, and will be working in many directions, We will be trying to update our readers first with his new products. Come back to check out the new designs!

http://www.chrisbangleassociates.com/

Dzmitry Samal

Australian Marc Newson is not new to the international scene. Having traveled around Europe and Asia in his youth, he then decided to live and work in Tokyo in the late 80s/early 90s after design school. He moved to Paris to set up shop for his projects with Cappellini, Moroso, and Flos. Newson doesn’t just work in one discipline. He creates everything from watches to furniture, from clothing lines to restaurant and recording studio interiors. Newson was commissioned to design the interior for Qantas Airlines  A380 fleet and new airport lounges in Sydney and Melbourne. Basically, Marc Newson’s list of accomplishments is impressive and endless. It is for this reason that he was named number 77 on GQ UK’s list of 100 most influential men.

Some of his most futuristic and funky design projects include the Sydney Airport Qantas First Class Lounge. The sleek lines and curves remind me of the interior of The Star Trek Enterprise (I’m guessing). It is spacious, elegant, and clean with a great use of negative space. Speaking of space, Newson also managed to realize a lifelong dream by producing a Spaceplane along with EADS (European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company). He also designed a Ford concept car, the 021C, in 1999. It looks like a miniature 1960s American classic a la Mad Men with rounder edges, lighter materials, and Jetson-era amenities.

Aside from Newson’s numerous large-scale projects, he has developed many products and product lines in the clothing, accessory, and house wares industries. All of his products exhibit his personal style and point of view; they are unique to Newson’s own design philosophy. He has said that his Australian upbringing allowed him to envision his own design tradition, free of preconceived teaching and styling. He has designed athletic gear for G-Star and a functional, lustrous Champagne coffret for Dom Perignon (perfect for those flashy picnics). At only 47 years old, there is no doubt that Newson will continue to influence contemporary design over the next decades and I certainly can’t wait to see what he takes on next. Maybe in the not-too-distant future we’ll be making weekend journeys through the Milky Way in his Spaceplane! After all, the Hamptons are so over.

www.marc-newson.com/

Carolyn Breit

What’s not to love about Karim Rashid’s bubblegum contemporary design? In Rashid’s own words, his poetic design is based on a plethora of complex criteria: human experience, social behaviors, global, economic and political issues, physical and mental interaction, form, vision, and a rigorous understanding and desire for contemporary culture. All of these interactions lead Rashid to envision a world in Technicolor and sleek lines. His interior design work includes hotels such as the Semiramis Hotel in Athens, Greece and the MyHotel in Brighton, UK. He has also designed restaurants such as Morimoto in Philadelphia, PA and Majik in Belgrade, Serbia.

Born in Egypt in 1960, raised in Canada, and residing in New York, Rashid has been able to reach an international audience with his colorful and inspirational designs. He feels that design is about the betterment of our lives poetically, aesthetically, experientially, sensorially, and emotionally. With affordable and stylish products as simple as his Garbo residential garbage can, even one small item can help make the home more beautiful. Next up for Rashid: a summer release of the reinvented SodaStream. It will be available this summer, but only at Harvey Nichols in London. I’ve already enlisted someone to pick up my fizzy-drink maker. Imagine the cocktails I can make with that!

www.karimrashid.com

Carolyn Breit