Vanessa Chang to head up BMW Group Designworks Shanghai studio

Vanessa Chang has been appointed director of the BMW Designworks Shanghai studio. She will oversee a team of 40 creatives, drawing on her experience working in design throughout China.

Chang has worked at BMW Designworks for over nine years, starting as director of strategic partnering before leading the creative consulting team out of the Shanghai studio. During this last role, she acted as a member of the management team while simultaneously heading a group of researchers and strategists to explore future growth avenues.

“China is a market that is changing faster than you can say ‘disruption´”, said Holger Hampf, president of Designworks. “Therefore, the mission of our Shanghai studio has always been to be optimistic about the future, responsible about the impact it creates, and unafraid to challenge the system, ourselves, our partners and the rules. Moving into the future, we believe Vanessa Chang is the right person to help us deliver on that mission.”

Before joining Designworks she held various roles, including as a director at a firm called Nova Design, and as a director at a product development company called Radius. She graduated from College of Journalism at the University of Maryland with a Master’s degree.

Designworks is set to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2022, and 30 years as part of the BMW Group. The Shanghai studio branch works on a wide variety of projects, most recently of which was a visual brand language design for Skyworth home appliances.

With the challenge of sustainability ringing out across the auto industry, BMW Designworks recently held a public exhibition in Los Angeles to showcase biomaterials and their potential use cases.