For the first time in my life, I will go to Milano Design week. When I worked at OEMs, design convergence took up most of my time – narrowing in on the right idea with multiple loops, studies, discussions, finance fights, and so on. And then, once the design is fixed, that was when the real engineering development could start. Detailed CAD, optical development, virtual testing, tooling, physical testing, homologation, ramp-up, and start of production.
Back then, I had no time to go to Milano Design Week. Now I have (a little bit!), or at least I feel the need to make time to collect data and information, and share what I see, hear, and learn.
I met Konzepthaus CEO Martin Groschwald last year; we have good connections – he studied in France, and has a French wife – and similar approaches to our work: design for him, and lighting and engineering for me. We’re both enthusiastic about gathering people, sharing knowledge, with the willingness to improve the system with fresh ideas.
We talked about a possible common event, to mix engineers and designers about lighting topics. We selected Milano, that design-Mecca, where more and more automotive designers are assembling at Design Week to find inspiration (and meet friends). And so it’s at Design Week where Konzepthaus are organizing their Haus of Automotive.
After a great deal of work, we are ready to publish our docket: three panel discussions mixing designers and engineers, from automotive, architecture, and fashion to exchange thoughts and ideas about lighting. First talks with the panelists seem promising.
Panel I · Exterior Lighting as Brand Language: from Design Identity to Technological Enablers
- Ben Payne, Vice President at Lotus Group
- Carsten Hohmann, Senior Industrial Designer at Forvia Hella Lighting Innovation Department
- Jürgen Jose, Professor & Head of the Transportation Design BA program at Pforzheim University
- Sven Oberndörfer, Head of Technical Operations Management at Leonhard Kurz
Panel 2 · Interior Lighting as Spatial and Emotional Design: Atmosphere, Comfort and Perceived Quality
- Axel Meise, Lead Designer and Founder of Occhio
- Tom Binder, Light-Sound-Scent Design Lead, BMW Group
- Madalina Marcu, Perceived Quality Specialist
- Alexander Uedelhoven, Founder of SUE
Panel 3 · Lighting-driven UX: how Light Shapes Interaction, Safety and User Perception
- Cesar Muntada, Head of Light Experience Design at Audi AG
- Moritz Waldemeyer, Head of Design and Director at Studio Waldemeyer
- Naomi Saka, Lead Designer at Bentley
- Yves Peitzner: Artist, Creative Director & Educator
Registration is open online! Directly from this very special DVN event in Milano, you can join our DVN Interior event in Köln with an intriguing interior lighting and UX session and a top-notch speaker lineup.
Beyond that: I just returned from Detroit, where we held our first DVN Design Talks event with OEMs and suppliers; in today’s DVNewsletter you’ll find a summary of the fascinating discussions. Clearly there’s a real need to tackle and remove silos in our industries – and DVN is here to help!
Sincerely yours,
