Interior Motives China conference 2010

Bangle is best known for his tenure as Chief of Design for the BMW group, where he was responsible for bringing the designs of the BMW, Mini Cooper, and Rolls Royce into the twenty-first century.
Graduating from the Art Center College of Design, Bangle began his career at Opel, and then moved on to Fiat, where he designed the brazen Coupe Fiat. In 1992, he was named the first American Chief of Design at BMW.
During his time at BMW, he introduced GINA, an experimental concept roadster that seeks to replace a vehicle’s static metal or fiberglass skin with a one of fabric that can change the shape and aerodynamics of the car.
After pushing car design language to its limits for twenty-eight years, Bangle announced his departure on February 3, 2009 from the auto industry. He looks forward to pursuing his own design-related endeavors from his studio in Italy, focusing on new ideas and cutting-edge innovation.

Friedhelm Engler became design director at GM's Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) joint venture in Shanghai, August 1, 2007 to oversee the development of products for GM in Greater China. Engler joined GM in 1992 as a transportation designer in the Corsa and Agila Studio rising to global compact car design director with GM Europe Design in 2005.
Before joining General Motors, Engler worked from 1988-1991 as a product designer at Frogdesign, Altensteig and Tokyo.
A native of Kenzingen, Germany, Engler studied at Pforzheim and holds a master's degree in transportation design.

Gert Hildebrand, the Chief Designer of Mini, has had a prolific and influential career in automotive design. After completing University studies in engineering and design in Karlsruhe, Braunschweig and the RCA London, Hildebrand joined Opel where he was part of the Kadett E design-team and the Opel JUNIOR show-car team 1983.
Next, he moved to the Volkswagen Design Center. In 1995 Hildebrand was appointed Chief Designer of the Volkswagen owned Seat Automotive Co. in Matorel, Spain. At Seat, besides designing the 1998 Toledo and Leon models, he also created the new face and the future design direction for Seat.
After a successful career at the Volkswagen Group, he ventured to the Mitsubishi European Design Center where he was Chief Designer. Since the beginning of 2001 Hildebrand leads the Mini Design Studio at BMW in Munich.

Currently leading the design localisation of Ford products in China, from 2007 to 2008, Lau took charge of the new Ford Fiesta design localisation for the Chinese market.

Lau joined Ford in 1992 with a personal design philosophy to imbue each design with a soul and personality that fuels the imagination, dreams and emotions.

She was named World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer in 2006 and AutoWeek magazine also named her as “one of the top ten secret people who will change your world”.

From 2004-2007, Shan Wei worked as the Design Manger of Beijing Jeep INC and joined and organized the BJ2S (Military Vehicle) design.
Since 2007, Shan Wei has worked as the Design Director of BATC R&D CENTER OF BEIJING AUTO GROUP, organizing and administering BATC Design of Production Line and DNA R&D(Brand of BEIJING )

Main design work:
Concept: BEIJING B40 BEIJING 800/700 /700R (2008 BEIJING ATUOSHOW)
Production: BJ2S(Military Vehicle) \B40\B61

Simon Loasby gained his degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, London. Having been sponsored by Rover Cars he then obtained support from Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Cars to study at the Royal College of Art. With his Masters degree in Design he then began his professional career at Rolls-Royce and Bentley in 1991. From 1991 to 1998 Simon was involved in many exterior and interior design projects, including a joint project with BMW in 1995 and numerous limited series coach-built vehicles. After the delivery phase of the Bentley Arnage and Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph, Volkswagen bought Bentley and Simon's focus became the delivery of the new mid-size Bentley Continental GT. In 2001, Simon moved within the Volkswagen Group to its HQ in Wolfsburg. In his time in Germany Simon worked on many strategic, advanced and production projects. In 2008 he was asked to take up a new position of Director of Design Volkswagen China, responsible for all design activities undertaken by both Volkswagen joint ventures (Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen). Simon's activity in China is not only the support of the localization of Volkswagen vehicles into the Chinese market but also the development of advanced design proposals from the Chinese perspective, the deciphering of consumer and aesthetic directions in the Chinese market (including the communication of this inside the Volkswagen Group), the development of future Volkswagen design strategy for the Chinese market and the ongoing design development of the locally produced vehicles. Simon has been working in or close to China since 2005.

As a typical local Chinese Cantonese designer with more than 1 year’s experience in Torino, XIAO has spent 7 years for car styling and 5 years for industrial design, growing up with the southern power of Chinese automobile industry.

Fei fei
Born in 1981.
2005.7 Graduated from Tsinghua University
Master's Degree, Transportation design
2006.1~2009.3 Worked in Japan for Mitsubishi Motors, as car designer,
2009.7~ FOTON motors, as Vice manager of Design Department.
Dream is driving a car designed by himself in the future.

Double Du graduated from Tsinghua university in 1996. His previous experience includes work at the China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC), consumer design at Motorola North Asia CXD and working for GM PATAC and Yulong Coolpad.

Carl graduated from Coventry University in 1999 with a BA Hons Degree in Transport Design. From there he worked briefly in the rapidly developing computer games industry for 12 months before working for a prolific UK design consultancy, working with many international clients including Land Rover, Ascari, Kia & Hyundai amongst others. Carl continued to develop his skills within the automotive sector with MG Rover working on new interiors for the brand. Following a year working for a consultancy designing for automotive, motorcycle and aircraft interiors and seating clients he joined the design team at SAIC UK where he has been heavily involved in the development of both MG and Roewe products for the Chinese market for the past 4 years.

After working in various roles including that as Executive Vice President of Calty, Toyota's studio in California, Hideichi Misono headed the company's luxury lines including Lexus. From 2001, as Senior General Manager of the Design Centre, Misono supervised all Toyota design and was instrumental in establishing the carmaker's design philosophy. In 2004, he moved to Tecno Art, an affiliate of Toyota's design group. In addition, since April 2009 he has worked as a Visiting Professor in the Div. of Design Science at the Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University. Hideichi enjoys working with young design students who are aspiring to be car designers.

As the Chief Designer at the Shanghai Volkswagen Technical Center, in charge of all design activities for VW and Skoda brands of Shanghai Volkswagen. Qian joined Shanghai Volkswagen in 1996 as a designer and was involved in the styling project of the Chinese PASSAT. After completing the 3-year training program in Volkswagen Wolfsburg Design, he led teams to deliver SANTANA 3000, PASSAT Lingyu, LAVIDA Langyi and PASSAT New Lingyu, among other latest models.

Robert Walker graduated with an Industrial Design Degree from the College for Creative Studies, School of Art and Design in Detroit, USA. His Previous experience includes working at the General Motors Design Centers in Detroit and Australia on Cadillac, Pontiac, Buick and Chevrolet vehicle interiors. He also worked for Lear Corporation Design Studios around the world; completing designs on a variety of car makers’ interior programs, and in 2004 becoming manager of the Asia Pacific Design Studio in Korea. Additionally, he has taken on several design teaching roles. In his current position Robert is responsible for the Interior and Exterior Design projects of Peugeot and Citroen cars for the Chinese market.

Ruth Pauli is Chief Designer Colour and Material Design, Ford of Europe, a position she was appointed to in April 2005. Since 2007, she is also responsible for the colour and material design of all global vehicles deriving from Europe, including Asia Pacific and Africa.

Prior to joining Ford of Europe, Mrs Pauli was Chief Designer Colour and Trim at General Motors Europe.

From 1998 to 2003 Ruth Pauli held leading design and product development positions at Milliken's Viktor Achter (automotive fabrics) and Lantal Textiles (textiles for aircrafts, railways, buses and cruise ships). Ruth began her career as a freelance designer and conceptual consultant for several renowned companies in Switzerland and Germany. She graduated from the University of Applied Sciences in Mönchengladbach, Germany, as design engineer and followed post-graduate studies in Industrial Design at the Academy of Art, Berlin.

Wulin Gaowa graduated from Qinghua University Beijing in 1999 and obtained her Masters Degree in Transportation Design from Pforzheim, Germany, in 2003. She was the first female Chinese automotive designer to work at the Mercedes Technology Center in Sindelfingen, Germany and at the Italdesign Giugiaro design studio in Italy. After many years of international experience, she has also become one of the first automotive professionals to teach at CAFA University, Beijing.

Wolfgang Muller-Pietralla studied Biology at the University of Hanover, focusing on models and simulations of ecologic systems.
In 1992, he joined Volkswagen where he introduced a sustainable environmental management system. During the EXPO 2000, Mr. Muller-Pietralla was Volkswagen's project manager and stage-managed both the Autostadt and the rain-forest house. He has been in charge of Volkswagen's future affairs department within the Volkswagen Group Research since 2003, which involves analyzing future developments and deducing future mobility and vehicle concepts.
In April 2009, Mr.Muller-Pietralla took on a Visitor Professor role at the Braunschweig University of Art.

Klaus Busse was appointed Head of Interior Design for Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram in June 2009.
He joined Chrysler in 2005 following 10 years with Mercedes-Benz Design. Busse's design portfolio includes the interiors of the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 2009 Dodge Ram, 2009 Chrysler 200C concept, Mercedes-Benz SLK and Mercedes-Benz A-Class.

Busse holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in transportation design from Coventry University, England.

Biography to be published shortly.

Johnson Controls' Automotive Experience's Chung is responsible for its Industrial design strategy and execution in Asia Pacific; supporting operations in China and the rest of Asia for a variety of car makers' programs.

Prior to Johnson Controls, Richard spent spent 13 years at Ford Motor Company, Dearborn and Hiroshima heading the North American Small Car design studio. Richard's contribution included the following vehicles: Ford Probe, Escort, Aspire/Festiva, Contour/Mystique, and Europe's most popular cargo van Transit. Richard also headed Ford's Global Craftsmanship organisation for 3 years before joining JCI in 2000.

Andreas Wlasak's career in the automotive industry began in 1999. He was responsible for building and then directing Johnson Controls' Advanced Design Studio Europe.
Wlasak started his working life as a product designer in various consultancies based in Germany and France, and then as design manager with Whirlpool in Italy, where he worked for six years. He joined Faurecia in September 2003

Kumo Chiu graduated from the Tatung Institute of Technology, Taiwan, in 1990 with a Bachelor degree in Industrial Design. He worked for Philips Design Taipei for 5 years from 1996 to 2001. In 2001 Kumo undertook the role of Asia Design Director for Motorola and also established the Asia Design Center in Beijing for Motorola. In 2007, Kumo launched his own design studio in Beijing, named Idea Dao Design. In addition, since 2006 Kumo has worked as a guest professor at the College of Design, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA).

Prof. Edward Wong graduated in 1987 from Pasadena Art Center College of Design and holds a Master and Bachelor of Science degree in Transportation Design. He has more than 20 years experience in automotive design industry and has worked for General Motors Company, and as well as provided consultation for Subaru, Honda, California CALTY Toyota, International Automotive Design, Dome Design of Kyoto, Toyota of The Philippines, Francisco Motor Company, Filipino Car Foundation of the Philippines Government, Nanhai City Fudi Automobile Company, Limited, China, Beijing Jeep Corporation, Limited, China, Tianjin FAW Xia Li Automotive Co., Limited, China. In addition, Prof. Wong has taught transportation design for more than 8 years at Pasadena Art Center College of Design in the United States, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (as well as setting up Intensive Workshop Program 'Design Boot Camp'), and also as a Associate Professor at Zhejiang University, as the Transportation Design Department Director at China Central Academy of Fine Arts.

Fu graduated from Art Center College of Design in Transportation Design with Honors in 1990. After 10 years of experience in Toyota’s CALTY studio in California, he moved to Shanghai in 2003 to work on conceptual studies for numerous international and Chinese carmakers. From 2006 to 2008, he works for Nanjing Automotive Corporation as Design Director helping local industry to form competitive design team and raise design capability by bringing in international training and educational programs. Since 2008, Mr. Fu formed “China Automotive Design Institute” and devoted to academic and design research for China’s automotive future.

Bilingual design academic Matteo Conti has been creating successful industrial partnerships with prestigious consultancies as his plan is to place this evolving course on the European design arena podium. Appointed External Examiner at Domus Academy, for the MA course in Car Design and developing low carbon vehicle R&D through a new Northumbria design entity called ‘High Value Low Carbon’.

Phillip Michel is the Managing Director and founder of PAE Design Talent, Beijng. PAE Design is building the bridge between the design industry in China and the markets. The focus is on finding the design talents for their clients and providing HR consulting and further education for the design industry.
Phillip worked in the recruitment Industry in Europe for Michael Page. With the help of his team, he successfully built up the Michael Page Engineering and Procurement and Supply Chain division, in Switzerland. Previously he worked in Marketing, Training and Operational Management positions in Europe.

Responsible for co-creating, co-producing & launching Material Intersections pod cast with Art Center College of Design's CMTEL Lab. Creative director of virtual material concepts for materials research to drive new software developments within various industries: automotive, shoe&apparel, A&D and material manufacturers. Using strategic development of material platforms to explore virtual materials & applications. Continue to connect the tactile & technical worlds by visual storytelling, rich narratives, design research and a material centric process.

Robert Miller's educational experience centered around design and marketing with emphasis in high technology commercialization and development. With a rich employment history with Panasonic, Sharp Electronics and David Sarnoff Research Center (RCA Labs). Miller served as Senior Director of Business and Design Development with these companies. In 1997, Miller formed his own consulting firm and focused his efforts in the emerging LED market directing his effort in advancing new product designs with LEDs and related technologies in automotive. Over the last 15 years Miller has perfected his skills in electronics and basic optic design and has successfully combined his efforts to become one of leading lighting technology design consultants to the global OEMs and Tiers. With over 50 complete concept cars and hundreds of working lighting designs to his credit, Miller has been with 3M Automotive since 2006 and has lead the international effort for design and integration for 3M light management products. Miller was instrumental in helping 3M design and produce three global technology vehicles Vicki III and the X Wave. Currently Miller supports all the international OEM and Tier design efforts with 3M lighting technologies.

Accomplished author, Miller has written numerous automotive lighting articles and white papers. Most recently he has authored his first book which promises to become a best seller in USA and Europe.

Johannes Barckmann graduated with an Industrial Design Degree from University of Applied Science and Arts.. He started at BMW Motorbike-Design and Eckard-Design before becoming responsible for the worldwide design activities of EDAG as Director Of Design in 1992.
In addition to the visionary EDAG concept cars he has been responsible for several production cars and trucks in Europe, North America and Asia.
Barckmann is also a visiting professor at Universities of Science and Arts, as well as at polytechnic academies; a member of advisory board at CTI; a member of German Design Council, jury member of international design competitions; and author of design and economics literature.