BMW’s Designworks is celebrating this month its 50th birthday. With locations in Los Angeles, Munich and Shanghai and clients from various industries, Designworks played an important role in the BMW’s history. It was here where a series of BMW crossovers were designed, along with concept cars like the GINA Light Visionary.
A walk down the memory lane reminds us that Designworks was founded in 1972 by US industrial designer Chuck Pelly in a garage in Malibu, California. It has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the BMW Group since 1995. The 130 creatives that make up the Designworks team see themselves as “Architects of future”.
The design studio completes about half of its nearly 300 projects a year for the BMW Group, while the other half consists of collaborations with selected external digital and mobility clients. For example, Designworks has been involved in the design concepts of seating furniture, aeroplanes, subways, bicycles, boats, sporting goods, air taxis (eVTOLs), agricultural and forestry machinery and a hyperloop, a high-speed passenger and freight transport system
The most recent automotive project? The first-ever BMW racing car with a hybrid V8. The BMW M Hybrid V8 was introduced to the world last month and will first race in 2023 at the Daytona 24 Hours. Other unique projects include a cabin designs for Singapore Airlines, a BMW Vision Ride Helmet or a vision of the future of camping for The North Face.
The studio also designed products for the USOC Paralympic teams. In 2012, Team USA won seven medals and set four Paralympian world records. Another interesting product launched in recent times is a flying taxi. In a latest attempt to showcase a stylish and cool flying taxi, BMW Designworks put together a project with Alaka’i Technologies.
The photo gallery below will give us a closer look at some of the unique projects that have emerged from the design studio.
