Christian Bauer took over as Head of Interior Design MINI in June
2017. In his answers to the following ten questions, he explains what
it is that makes interior design, in particular, an immensely
challenging job, why automotive design is on the verge of perhaps one
of its biggest ever paradigm shifts and what role MINI will play in
this process.
1.
Why did you become a car designer
?
The job is both a vocation for me and a
tremendous privilege, because as designers we have the opportunity to
make the world a more beautiful place. Even as a child, there were two
things that I loved: cars and drawing. I had a huge collection of
Matchbox cars. I also had the good fortune to be constantly surrounded
by real vehicles, too, as my father spent a great deal of time
“tinkering” with various models. And I’ve always really enjoyed
drawing as well. So, combining the two passions and making a career of
them seemed like a logical thing to do, and the opportunity to study
Transportation Design at the University of Applied Sciences in
Pforzheim provided the ideal stepping stone into the profession.
2.
What sort of things capture your imagination
?
Development, the future – basically I’m
fascinated by anything that’s new. I can’t bear the thought of things
just standing still, and nothing good comes of it in the long term, in
my view. Advancement is part of human nature, and it’s something we
all engage with from a very young age; my own children show me time
and again what a joy it is. Their delight in achieving or
understanding something for the first time is communicated openly and
directly. The pleasure taken in one’s own positive evolution is a
source of both motivation and fascination for me: I, too, constantly
challenge myself in order to keep progressing and creating new things.
3.
What inspires you
?
I draw inspiration from the unusual and the
unseen. Every time someone successfully takes a new approach, I am
reminded that we sometimes stick too closely to the familiar. New
approaches often set new standards too. So, it’s worth breaking new
ground, even if it means surmounting many obstacles and showing real
courage. I am inspired by achievements in all sorts of disciplines –
from architecture, to biology and physics, to design, of course. A
great deal of interdisciplinary work is being carried out at present,
which can have a great bearing on design. For instance, you have
biologists working together with engineers on intelligent materials.
In future, it could be possible for surfaces such as leather, fabric
or wood to communicate using light, sound or movement, for example.
Functions and components will merge into one, opening up entirely new
possibilities in the process.
4.
What do you think of as good design
?
For me, good design is always a reflection of
the zeitgeist at the time, while also relating extremely closely to
the person the product is geared towards. The way we see things – and,
as a consequence, prevailing tastes – change over time. The dominant
element in design today, for example, is clarity because the world we
live in has become highly complex and we’re overloaded with input.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that good design always has to mirror
contemporary preferences, however: there is also such a thing as
timeless design. All in all, good design must offer added value in my
opinion – both functionally and emotionally.
5. What do you like most about your work as a car
designer?
For me, design means far more than just the
aesthetics of form; I see it as something carried out for and with
people. This means that design always generates added value that
satisfies at least one requirement of people or customers – even if it
is “just” their sense of wellbeing. In other words, design helps to
make life better. Playing an active role in that is something I am
very proud of.
I also love the aspect of foresightedness, i.e.
fathoming out the needs that people will develop in future and how we
can best address them. This visionary role allows design to act as the
driving force behind technological innovations and even inspire
developers. That’s one of the most exciting and captivating parts of
my job.
6. When it comes to car design, people tend to think first of
the exterior design, rather than the interior. Why is
that?
The exterior forms the first touchpoint with a
vehicle. It’s the first thing you see and it generates direct
emotions. The exterior’s styling confers certain attributes on the
vehicle, such as power, speed or agility, which add up to give it a
distinctive character. And it is not uncommon for the product to make
a statement by clearly conveying the status and character of its
driver. The exterior design is extremely important. But what keeps the
customer hooked in over the long run – as many studies have confirmed
– is the interior.
7. What is so special about interior design?
The
real acid test as far as the customer is concerned comes when they
actually get inside the car – and getting this right is a far tougher
task. If you don’t feel at ease in the vehicle, can’t get to grips
with the controls, don’t like the materials or think the build quality
is abysmal, then you’re highly unlikely to buy another car from the
same brand. An interior designer has to be adept at a host of
different disciplines. You need to know the basics of ergonomics,
human behaviour, acoustics, control logic, and far more besides. The
person must not feel restricted in their movement in any way, but at
the same time they must be guided and harnessed. They must not be
dazzled by anything and yet everything must be clearly identifiable.
And all of that not just in a single specific situation but throughout
the whole spectrum of different movement scenarios and usage cases –
from configuring the car on a smartphone, to getting in and the actual
driving, to getting out again. And, of course, it must all be easy and
intuitive to use. Then comes the icing on the cake: the styling of the
surfaces, the coherent appearance of the parts, the overall effect of
the interior. It should also be pointed out that we work within a
pretty tight set of technical constraints, such as rigidity, crash
characteristics, sound insulation, wiring harnesses and material wall
thicknesses. These constraints have to be manipulated in such a way
that there is more room and freedom for the actual task of design. And
rest assured that there will always be something in the way. Sculpting
a line or a surface cleanly enough so that it doesn’t just look like
covering for the technical constraints is quite a challenge in itself.
The art of interior design resides in firing the emotions and creating
a feel-good factor, while working within all these complex parameters.
The feeling when the Board of Management signs off a production-car
interior with a broad smile on their faces is indescribable and a real
reward for all the effort involved.
8. What do you see as being the key issues of the future for
MINI and what role will interior design have to
play?
There is a great deal of upheaval in the
automotive world at present. We are seeking to create a sensible and
emotionally engaging product offering for smaller models in the
premium segment against the highly complex backdrop of digitalisation,
autonomous driving and, of course, electric mobility. At MINI we want
to be an active player in pushing ahead this transition to the new
world, as it were. In the course of this evolution, interior design is
set to play an absolutely essential role. Enjoying a pleasant,
flexible environment for the drive from A to B is becoming more and
more important. Autonomous driving will transform vehicle interiors.
For many people, their vehicle will become a second living space after
their homes. We will probably continue to spend a great deal of time
in our cars in future – perhaps even more than we do today. But we
will increasingly be able to do other things there as well. Read,
sleep, buy things online or play with the kids; the possibilities seem
endless. Vehicle interiors must therefore take new forms of usage into
account. And we as interior designers have the ability to create
completely new worlds and experiences and take quality of life to a
whole new level. This is where I expect to see perhaps the biggest
paradigm shift in car manufacture.
9. How will that look at MINI exactly?
MINI is
all about maximising the experience within the smallest possible
footprint. The technical requirements of electric mobility mean that
installation spaces and partitioning have to be rethought. This opens
up tremendous potential for MINI. Interaction with vehicles will
assume an increasingly important role, as well. In future, customers
will still be able to find their way around a MINI instantly and
purely by intuition. MINI will show that interaction does not have to
be boring, look overly technical or be complicated to use. What is
important is that, in future, anyone who gets into a MINI will still
feel totally at ease. And ideally, they won’t want to get out again either.
10. What would the perfect interior of the future look like
for you?
I think – and, indeed, hope – there is no
such thing as “the” perfect interior, otherwise we would be out of a
job! In the future, there will certainly be a far higher degree of
flexibility and fusion between all the areas involved, such as
materials, displays, movement, sound, aroma and control. I’m excited
about what lies ahead, and hope designers and engineers alike will get
the freedom they need to bring about something completely new.
Thank you very much!
CV:
Christian Bauer has been Head of Interior Design at
MINI since June 2017. Before switching to MINI, the 43-year-old was in
charge of Interior and Detail Design at BMW i. Prior to that, he
worked as both team manager and acting general manager in BMW Interior
Design and Detailing.