Vanessa Martins is Head of CMF at Kurz USA, and she kindly talked with DVN Interior’s Andreas Friedrich about how her field and work are evolving as a crucial design element.
Andreas Friedrich: Hi, Vanessa. Tell us about yourself, will you please?
Vanessa Martins: I studied Graphic Design and Industrial Design back in my home country which is Brazil. I’m from São Paulo. I even studied Anthropology; how people think and how they behave. It’s always easier to design something knowing human behavior. I find that very fascinating. But everything is changing superfast.
I started working as an intern at GM in Brazil and got an employment as CMF designer in 2008. Oh boy…that means I’ve been in the industry for 17 years!
I worked a long time for GM, and 2014 I got an opportunity to join a major project in the US, and since I’m an opportunist I didn’t hesitate to say yes. I moved to Detroit and that was my first time abroad – I remember it was snowing on my car; that was a totally new experience for me, and I even had over a meter of snow in front of my door. After more than a year I moved to Shanghai in 2015, working on a joint venture including the Chevrolet brand where I was leading the CMF work of a major project. It was an opportunity to grow both personally and professionally. In 2016 we came back to Brazil.
Kurz was one of the suppliers I worked with during my time at GM, and of all of a sudden they wanted to start a design studio in North America. Since they knew me already, it was an easy “let’s do it” from my side.
DVN-I: How did you start with Kurz?
V.M.: I went to Germany to do all my training, and spent a little over one year there. In 2019 I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina to start building up the design department and innovation department. I have been working there since then. It’s been quite a journey, with amazing opportunities: living in different countries, understanding different cultures, and seeing how design really plays a different role when it comes to culture.
Just experiencing different markets was great. I was not only a designer for automotive; my role belongs to the plastics division and we have many different customers, so a lot of consumer electronics and appliances, too.
DVN-I: That must be very interesting, to have your fingers in so many different industries.
V.M.: Yes, it’s really good. All my previous experience was within automotive and those projects take a bit of time, like 3-4 years, while in consumer electronics and appliance it’s much faster. So you are always chasing trends; what will be next? It’s much shorter development time.
DVN-I: Are your clients mainly US-based brands?
Vanessa Martins: Yes! Since I moved to Charlotte I have responsibility for all the major accounts, and many of them are American brands.
DVN-I: So your role as Head of CMF is for the US, or also for Kurz’s German work?
V.M.: Only the US part. Each region had their own Head of CMF, but we changed that a bit – it’s now a Head CMF Designer in each region and in Europe they have that in Germany, serving all of Europe.
In Austria at Burg Design, we have a Head of Design. Burg is also a Kurz company.
DVN-I: So I worked for the Chinese within the Geely Family for 10 years. What is your experience?
V.M.: I mean, nothing beats Chinese speed, the way they do things is really fast. I think they are right now leading the automotive development field. So many new cool ideas, they are dominating every single auto show.
DVN-I: How do you look for new ideas and innovation areas?
V.M.: We go to a lot of various fairs to get inspired, like fashion shows, auto shows. We split the teams and go to different places and share the finding with each other globally. I normally cover the shows in the US while my colleagues in China and Europe cover their areas.
It’s fantastic with a global community for that.
It’s just a blast when we are all together sharing ideas. I really believe that design is all about sharing, if you don’t share there is no way you can do something, right? Kurz actually does a very good job creating new products, new technology, and being the supplier to look for. We have always been decorating plastics, so we often ask ourselves, what if we try something else? That’s where we find inspiration. Plastics is still the major component in everything we do, but maybe we can apply and play with our foils in different ways?
I’m communicating with my team in Germany pretty much every day and we often do brainstorming together. I really find CES the best place to go to for inspiration. CES is becoming the most important show in the industry.
DVN-I: Yes, I’ve been there too – information overload 24/7, and I agree, the automotive part of the show has become really good. Have you been to Milan Design Week?
V.M.: Yes, one time, seven years ago. But it’s mainly my German colleagues going there. I think Europe is doing a great job with fairs and inspiration. In the US it’s all a bit more technical, and not so artsy. The CMF designers over here are also a bit more technical, while in Europe the brands show themselves more like a fashion show. In the US it’s big screens in the interiors and technology.
DVN-I: How does China compare?
Vaness Martins: I think China is a combination of both. Again, extremely technical, but they are ahead of the curve, pushing the limits, not only with technology but also with CMF strategy. Some of their interiors are like, “REALLY?? They are using THAT‽ Wow!”. Things that would never cross our minds. They just go for it. And the Americans are pushing more towards technology. Not saying that’s like, ‘wow, technology’, but a little bit more technical, a little bit more boxy in a way.
DVN-I: How about sustainability?
V.M.: People are looking for sustainable solutions, not only to show that they’re thinking of it, but more because they are getting aware of the importance of doing it. We are getting more and more requests in the area. We have recently made a project where we are using the PET carrier that’s normally part of the delivery of our foils, where we used the PET for making yarns and ultimately textiles. We are not selling textiles yet, but it’s an important step for us, recycling the PET. But of course there is much more going on that I can’t disclose right now, we are working beyond the obvious. This field is getting bigger and bigger.
DVN-I: I’ve seen your posts about fashion shows and CMF.
Vanessa Martins:Yes, people often think fashion is fashion and everything else is CMF, but that’s not true. You see a lot on the catwalk that you could get inspired by for your projects and they are really good at sharing trends in Paris. I love fashion shows! In my free time I love doing fashion sketches. Fashion shows have a major impact on my work.
DVN-I: In my own career as interior designer I always loved to interact with the CMF people.
Vanessa Martins: Yes, its great when there is a collaboration early in projects. I’m happy to see that people are talking more about CMF, and that’s one of the things I try to promote on social media. It is as important as exterior and interior design, right? Because it’s the only one that put both together and that’s one of the things I really spend some time to help people to understand.
DVN-I: How about smart surfaces? Now all the beautiful surfaces can do things too!
V.M.: That is absolutely something Kurz is doing too. We just finished the big K fair in Düsseldorf, where Kurz had a great stand and showed a lot of our latest news where technology and surface are combined. Smart surfaces have been a hot topic for years now, but it feels like it’s now it’s happening. We also showed a lot of sustainable solutions, and also solutions for headlamps and tail lamps.
DVN-I: How about digital CMF, with digital masters and the like?
V.M.: We are investing a lot in that right now, and so are our customers. I like all the software that can take CMF to the next level, like Adobe Substance or various AI tools. China is still doing a lot of physical prototyping because it’s cheaper and faster there, while in Europe we are going more digital.
DVN-I: Discussing this in Munich recently, it was clear the basic skills of materials will still and always be needed.
V.M.: AI will never be able to replace that. I use those kinds of tools to generate volume of ideas to choose from. I can see how the same pattern works in different light and in different colors as an example. It’s a quick way to narrow down your ideas. But CMF is about the whole experience, it’s not just how it looks it’s also how you interact with it and AI will not be able to replace that. The magic happens when you can touch and feel what you just created.
And that’s why I’m extremely happy and passionate doing what I do, because I know every single time that someone is going to touch something that I have to created, you can see how they connect in their eyes. That’s amazing, and that’s why I keep fighting for CMF.
DVN-I: That leads me to my final question, which was circulating in Munich: do you see a CMF designer becoming the design chief of an automaker any time soon?
Vanessa Martins: Man, I love that question; I volunteer as the first one! That’s a very good question. I had this discussion a few weeks back. I don’t think it’s going to happen soon, but maybe in a few years’ time? CMF is getting momentum…!
