Anna Costamagna is an Italian Interior Design Manager working at Peugeot and Advanced Design Manager for Stellantis. While her mother worked as an assistant to Sergio Pininfarina, she was initially drawn to fashion design before venturing down the path in automotive. She began her career at Bertone in Caprie, a suburb of her native Turin, after studying engineering and management at the acclaimed Politecnico di Torino. Costamagna then moved to Paris, France, to bring Peugeot production cars to fruition. Despite not speaking a word of French, then design director Gérard Welter hired her on the spot.
Over her career, Costamagna has worked with a number of companies to develop future-looking concepts as well as groundbreaking interior proposals, including the Peugeot i-Cockpit, which made its debut on the 2010 SR1 concept and the production 208 two years later. In this episode of FORMCAST, Form Trends editor Eric Gallina spoke with Costamagna about her career path, interface and advanced design, diversity in the workplace and the role of the designer and manager in the corporate environment.
LISTEN
SHOW NOTES
01:00 – Background and Starting Out
04:00 – Joining Bertone
05:25 – Design Management
07:20 – Projects and Concepts at Bertone
09:45 – Moving to Peugeot
12:00 – The Language Barrier
13:15 – Peugeot projects
14:00 – i-Cockpit and Peugeot Design Vision
15:47 – Ergonomic Priorities
16:40 – The Role of the Screen
18:25 – The New 308
19:00 – User Interface – Buttons and Screens
20:50 – User Experience
21:45 – Architectural influence
23:40 – Transitional Phase
24:00 – Natural Interface
26:00 – Management Style
27:00 – Problem Solving and Anticipating Problems
28:00 – Managing People and the Gender Gap
29:40 – Diversity in the Workplace
33:00 – The Studio Imbalance
34:30 – Cancel Gender Friction
36:00 – People Creating for People
38:30 – Overcoming Challenges
41:00 – Managing Expectations
42:00 – Future Skills of the Designer
44:00 – Shifting Objectives
46:30 – Personal Life and Hobbies
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