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Industry | |
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Founded | 1972 |
Founder | Charles Pelly |
Headquarters | Santa Monica, California , United States [1] |
Number of locations | 3 |
Key people | Holger Hampf, President |
Number of employees | 140+ (2019) |
Parent | BMW |
Website | www.bmwgroupdesignworks.com |
Designworks is a global creative consultancy owned by BMW and based in Santa Monica, California, United States. Designworks has two further studios, in Munich, Germany and Shanghai, China. Established independently in 1972 by Charles Pelly, it became a wholly owned BMW Group subsidiary in 1995, and was instrumental in the design of the BMW XL Sports Activity Vehicle and the BMW 5 Series. Other development projects at Designworks have included the BMW electric car, BMW 8 Series (E31) seat, BMW 3 Series (E46), BMW Z8, BMW 7 Series interior, and BMW 100- and 1200 Touring motorcycles, among many others. [2]
The design studio was founded in 1972 by designer Charles Pelly [3] with the name DesignworksUSA (renamed Designworks in 2015). The company began in Malibu Canyon with three designers and early customers included Hyster and the Otis Elevator Company.[ citation needed ]
In 1978, the company expanded and moved to Van Nuys, and set up its first sister studio, D2, in Detroit. In 1986, Designworks designed the seats for the BMW 8 Series (E31), which was the company's first involvement with BMW. In the same year, the company moved to Agoura. In 1988, Designworks moved to Newbury Park, and began designing for Nokia, Compaq, Siemens and Adidas .[ citation needed ]
In 1991, BMW acquired a large percentage of the company, and Designworks started its first car exterior design project in 1993 for the 1998 BMW 3 Series (E46). In May 1995, BMW purchased the remaining percentage of Designworks. At this time artist David Hockney painted an Art Car in the studio. In 1998, Designworks opened a studio in Munich, and in 1999, Henrik Fisker was named president.
In 2001, Adrian van Hooydonk became president. In 2002, Designworks expanded its automotive studio in Newbury Park.
Verena Kloos was president from 2004 to 2009. In January 2006, the company opened a new studio in Singapore, and in 2007 unveiled their new studio wing in Newbury Park. On December 1, 2009, Laurenz Schaffer, formerly director of Designworks's Munich studio, became president. In April 2012, Designworks opened a new studio in Shanghai. [4]
From 1 August 2016 Oliver Heilmer was appointed as the new president of Designworks. He remained in the role until 2017, when he moved to Munich to take over responsibility of Mini Design. The current president of Designworks is Holger Hampf. Appointed in the role on 1 September 2017, Holger originally joined Designworks in 1998, responsible for Product Design. From 2002 to 2010 he was a member of Designworks management team in Los Angeles. [5]
In addition to work for BMW, Designworks has worked with a range of clients, largely in the mobility/transportation and consumer electronics industries, including Embraer, [6] Hewlett Packard, [7] Starbucks, [8] Coca-Cola, [9] Konica Minolta, [10] EVA Air, [11] Pilatus Aircraft, [12] John Deere, [13] Bavaria Yachtbau, [14] ASUS, [15] and Singapore Airlines. [16]
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, abbreviated as BMW, is a German multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The company was founded in 1916 as a manufacturer of aircraft engines, which it produced from 1917 to 1918 and again from 1933 to 1945.
Konica Minolta, Inc. is a Japanese multinational technology company headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, with offices in 49 countries worldwide. The company manufactures business and industrial imaging products, including copiers, laser printers, multi-functional peripherals (MFPs) and digital print systems for the production printing market. Konica Minolta's Managed Print Service (MPS) is called Optimised Print Services. The company also makes optical devices, including lenses and LCD film; medical and graphic imaging products, such as X-ray image processing systems, colour proofing systems, and X-ray film; photometers, 3-D digitizers, and other sensing products; and textile printers. It once had camera and photo operations inherited from Konica and Minolta but they were sold in 2006 to Sony, with Sony's Alpha series being the successor SLR division brand.
Minolta Co., Ltd. was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten. It made the first integrated autofocus 35 mm SLR camera system. In 1931, the company adopted its final name, an acronym for "Mechanism, Instruments, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima".
Mini is a British automotive marque founded in 1969, owned by German automotive company BMW since 2000, and used by them for a range of small cars assembled in the United Kingdom, Austria and the Netherlands. The word Mini has been used in car model names since 1959, and in 1969 it became a marque in its own right when the name "Mini" replaced the separate "Austin Mini" and "Morris Mini" car model names. BMW acquired the marque in 1994 when it bought Rover Group, which owned Mini, among other brands.
Sony α is a digital camera system introduced on 5 June 2006. It uses and expands upon Konica Minolta camera technologies, including the Minolta AF SLR lens mount, whose assets were acquired by Sony after the end of Konica Minolta's photography operations in early 2006. Sony also has an 11.08% ownership stake in Japanese lens manufacturer Tamron, which is known to have partnered with Konica Minolta and Sony in the design and manufacture of many zoom lenses.
Helmut Gunter Wilhelm Panke is a German manager and physicist who has been holding board membership in several companies - Microsoft, Bayer AG and Singapore Airlines. During the past recent 30 years, Panke's management career spread over several companies, including e.g. serving as the chairman of the board of management at BMW AG from May 2002 through August 2006.
Nishi is one of 24 wards of Osaka, Japan. It is in the west of central Osaka, and is generally flat. 80% of the area was destroyed by bombing in World War II, and was not regenerated until the mid-1960s.
Pel-Air Aviation Pty Ltd is an airline based in Mascot, Sydney, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Regional Express Holdings, which also owns Australian airline Rex Airlines.
Henrik Fisker is a Danish automotive designer and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for designing luxury cars. After working at BMW, Ford, and Aston Martin, Fisker founded Fisker Automotive in 2007. The company failed to meet production deadlines despite significant federal and private investment. Fisker resigned in 2013. The New York Times described the company as the "Solyndra of the electric car industry" and a "debacle". He is currently the CEO of Fisker Inc., which he co-founded with his wife in 2016.
The official founding date of the German motor vehicle manufacturer BMW is 7 March 1916, when an aircraft producer called Bayerische Flugzeugwerke was established. This company was renamed to Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) in 1922. However, the BMW name dates back to 1917, when Rapp Motorenwerke changed its name to Bayerische Motoren Werke. BMW's first product was a straight-six aircraft engine called the BMW IIIa. Following the end of World War I, BMW remained in business by producing motorcycle engines, farm equipment, household items and railway brakes. The company produced its first motorcycle, the BMW R32, in 1923.
Adrian van Hooydonk, is a Dutch automobile designer and BMW Group's Design Director. He is based in Munich, Germany.
The BMW Z models are a line of roadsters manufactured by German automaker BMW. The Z stands for zukunft, and has been produced in four different series with six generations consisting of roadster, coupé, sports car, and concept variants.
PGA Tour on CBS is the branding used for broadcasts of the PGA Tour that are produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States.
Charles W. Pelly, commonly Chuck Pelly, is an American industrial designer. Pelly is best known for founding the global design consultancy DesignworksUSA.
Joan Gregor is an American design strategist and co-founder of The Design Academy, Inc.
Anders Warming is a Danish automotive designer who is the future Director of Design at Rolls-Royce. He started his new job in July 2021. Formerly he has been the Chief Design Officer of Borgward. He was the chief of Design for the Mini division of BMW, but resigned in July 2016. Many 1st and 2nd Generation Mini owners disliked his styling approach for the third generation cars. The most often criticized design element was the front end, something many people called a 'fish mouth' due to its large oval grille and lip-like black plastic trim. Before working at MINI, he was the chief of exterior design for BMW from 2007 to the end of 2010. After leaving MINI, he joined Borgward and later started his own design firm. In 2020, he was invited to draw Hengchi 1,2 and 4, which the cars going to be produced next year. Hengchi is the brand of China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Limited
The BMW i is a sub-brand of BMW founded in 2011 to design and manufacture plug-in electric vehicles. The company initially released two vehicles: the i3 all-electric car and the i8 plug-in hybrid. The all-electric iX3 SUV was released in late 2020, while iX SUV and the i4 all-electric liftback sedan followed later in 2021.
The Pilatus PC-24 is a light business jet produced by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. Following the success of the PC-12 single engine turboprop, work on the twin engine jet began in 2007 for greater range and speed, keeping the rugged airfield capability. The aircraft was introduced on 21 May 2013 and rolled out on 1 August 2014, with the maiden flight on 11 May 2015. The PC-24 received EASA and FAA type certification on 7 December 2017 and the first customer delivery was on 7 February 2018. Powered by two Williams FJ44 turbofans, it competes with the Embraer Phenom 300 and the Cessna Citation CJ4.
Richard Kim is a Korean-American car designer, known for his work on the BMW i3 and i8 electric cars. He joined Canoo in 2017 as Chief Design Officer and Co-Founder.