Long-time Volkswagen Group designer Peter Olah was promoted to head the Interior Design department at Skoda on December 1, 2020. The designer has been responsible for the interior architecture of all models since 2015.
“With Peter Olah at the helm, the interior architecture of our models has taken a big step forward in recent years,” says Skoda Head of Design, Oliver Stefani. “As head of the Interior Design Architecture department, he has, with his team, brought numerous innovative concepts to life and set new impulses. His creative ideas and his many years of experience make Peter Olah an ideal candidate for the role of Head of Interior Design. I’m delighted to continue working with him.”
Olah has been with the Volkswagen Group for the majority of his career. After completing his studies at the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava — where he focussed on automotive interior architecture — Olah did a short stint at Ford Motor Company before joining the VW Group in 2002. He started as a creative designer in the Skoda design studio (his first project was the 2005 Yeti concept) and was appointed senior designer in 2005.
In 2006, Olah moved to the VW Group Design Center Europe in Potsdam (now called Future Center Europe) and worked on projects for various brands within the Group, including Audi, Volkswagen and Lamborghini. He returned to the VW Group’s Czech subsidiary in 2007 as a design project manager. During this period, he also completed his doctorate and, after gaining his habilitation, he became a docent at the Slovak Technical University.
Olah later went on to manage the Interior Design, Details and Human Machine Interface (HMI) team. In addition to design strategy, his responsibilities included interior models, digital design models and interface design, as well as connectivity and infotainment design, graphic design and merchandising.
Since 2015, Olah has been responsible for the interior architecture of all Skoda models. In his new role as Head of Interior Design, he is charged with the interior design of the entire vehicle in all model ranges. His remit now includes interior architecture as well as the design of control elements (that is the user interface, or UI) and the design of the user experience (UX), as well as the selection of colors, fabrics and materials (CMF).
Olah is also very active in the Czech glassware industry, where he combines modern technology with time-honored craftsmanship to design trophies for the Tour de France (built by the Czech company Lasvit), the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and Formula 1 Championships. His designs have received international recognition in the form of several Red Dot Awards, the ICSID Design Excellence award, the Slovak National Prize for Design and awards from National Design centers.
