Geely’s Peter Horbury uncovers secrets of brand identity and discusses cultural influences in car design
I have found that as a designer, a fresh pair of eyes often sees the differences that make a culture interesting. After taking over as design director at Volvo in 1991, I went to a student exhibition degree show in Gothenburg and one student had designed a park bench. The back of the seats had a certain curvature. And I said to the graduate, ‘that’s really Swedish, isn’t it?’ He didn’t see it because he had done it completely naturally but I recognised it as being a much shallower curve than you would ever see on the back of a chair in England, for example. It was unique to Sweden.
So these things started to play a role in both the exterior and interior of the Volvos we were doing at the time. That’s part of my philosophy – look at where you are and use it.
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Head of materials at Chris Lefteri Design, Gaia Crippa, speaks to Car Design News ahead of the CDN Milan Design Night
In the first of a new series, Pontus Fontaeus, design director at the GAC Advanced Design Centre in Los Angeles, cherry-picks five design objects that sit close to his heart
During a recent visit to Gothenberg, Car Design News stopped by to speak with Polestar design director Maximilian Missoni whose design team has once again claimed the Car Design Review production car of the year
