The fourth annual Auto Design Prague recently took place in the city’s National Technical Library. Held on September 18th, the event presented the latest trends in automotive design with leading personalities from the field, with this year’s main actors hailing from Volvo, Qoros, Jaguar, Ferrari, Škoda and Citroen/DS.
This year’s presenters included Thomas Ingenlath, senior vice president for design at Volvo, who spoke about Scandinavian design in relation to the Swedish automaker’s new design language. He cited the Volvo XC90, the first production car designed under his leadership, which will make its world premiere at the Paris auto show later this week.
Another speaker was Julian Thomson, advanced design director at Jaguar. Thomson gave a lecture entitled the ‘Ten Rules of Car Design’, which offered some helpful tips for design hopefuls seeking to enter the field.
A precise and very insightful presentation was prepared by Johann Lemercier, who described his work on one of today’s most fascinating supercars: the Ferrari LaFerrari hybrid. Watch design director Flavio Manzoni show us around the supercar’s design here.
Former Mini design director, Gert Hildebrand, who today heads the new Chinese-Israeli brand Qoros, outlined the making of the brand’s new vehicles, which began from a clean sheet. Besides designing the cars, Hildebrand had a hand in the creation of the logo, the marketing communications and the naming campaign.
Ivo Groen, DS program design director, presented the new DS Divine concept set to make its world debut at the Paris auto show later this week. He also revealed some interesting anecdotes on designing prototypes.
After the design presentations came a series of lectures focused on technology. Todd Morgan, vice president for Varroc Lighting Systems, explained the possibilities of laser and OLED lighting, which will significantly influence automotive design with a compact structure. Michal Jelínek dealt with the topic of designing tools, and Jiří Hulák offered a historical perspective from the National Technical Museum.
In addition to the conference, this year marked the inauguration of a design exhibition showcasing the best thesis projects by automotive design students. From 30 selected projects exhibited in the National Technical Library gallery, conference speakers chose the best overall project.
Under the patronage of Jozef Kabaň, Škoda’s design chief, the Auto Design Prague Talent of the Year award was presented to Henri von Freyberg, who graduated from Pforzheim University’s MA program this year. The young German designer also received an exclusive offer from Kabaň for an internship in Škoda’s design studio. See more images of his Bugatti Coupemotion concept here.
“We are very pleased with this year’s interest in the conference and exhibition,” says Radek Laube, Editor-in-Chief of conference organizers Auto Design & Styling magazine. “We had the opportunity to welcome guests from the USA, Korea, Canada, Belarus, even Egypt and other countries.”
Laube’s goal is for Auto Design Prague to become a must-attend event in the calendars of people from design studios and design students, citing the “unique opportunity to not only see presentations of leading designers, but also the chance to establish new contacts.”
We hope to see you there next year.
