Wayne Burgess, former Head of Geely Design UK, has joined UK design and engineering firm Paramex, overseeing the group’s expanding design operations. Burgess joined the company in August following a stint at Geely’s UK design operations base and more than 21 years at Jaguar Cars.
Form Trends caught up with the acclaimed designer a week prior to the official announcement. He seemed very excited about the prospect of becoming Chief Design Officer at a company known for supplying digital visualizations, including photo-realistic digital imagery, animations and whole vehicle configurators. Over the course of his career, he has had many dealings with the firm.
“The global pandemic has changed the way we all work and proven what we already knew; that we can successfully create cars, products and visual assets remotely, in the digital realm,” Burgess commented on his appointment. “I am tasked with overseeing this very exciting period of innovation at Paramex, helping our clients move their businesses forward by offering state of the art services.”
Burgess joins as Chief Design Officer and his appointment signals the start of a new era of contemporary, technology driven design practice. Following the recent global pandemic, the adoption of digital modeling, visualization and presentation tools has necessarily become much more prevalent to enable businesses to maintain creative momentum.
Paramex is currently undergoing a period of accelerated growth and is to move into new facilities in Coventry, the heart of Britain’s automotive industry. A leader in digital design, visualization & innovation, serving the automotive and engineering sectors, Paramex is expanding its services and setting up an academy to train future generations to help ease the shortage of highly-skilled young people joining the industry.
Burgess will oversee the creative design, digital modeling, digital visualization and engineering services Paramex offers to the transport design and consumer product industries. He brings a wealth of creative design and leadership experience, having worked for some of the world’s finest premium automotive manufacturers including Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce and Geely.
“Having spent nearly 30 years designing cars for some of the most prestigious brands in the business, it’s time for me to share the benefit of that knowledge and experience with the widest possible audience, as our industry moves towards an era of sustainable, connected, zero emissions and, ultimately, autonomous vehicles.”
Though Burgess’ most recent role was Geely UK’s Head of Design, he previously spent 21 years at Jaguar, starting as Principal Designer in 1997. Then, working closely with Ian Callum, he was seconded to Aston Martin in 1999, leading the design team responsible for the Aston Martin DB9 and what ultimately became the V8 Vantage. Returning to Jaguar, Burgess became Chief Designer on several programs, most notably the XF and F-Type, before being promoted to Studio Director, where he also looked after Jaguar’s SVO projects, such as Projects 7 and 8 and the I-Pace E-Trophy.
Before joining Jaguar, Burgess worked for Omni Design International, on a variety of vehicle exteriors and interiors for various manufacturers, including Rolls-Royce and Bentley (where he oversaw the exterior design of the Seraph and Arnage) and Rover Group. His first role in the car industry was Designer for LTI Carbodies, creating a replacement for the London Taxi, which ultimately became the TX1.
In addition to hiring Wayne Burgess, Paramex is also opening a new digital studio facility to offer more flexibility to its client base, and will also expand its services beyond the transport industries to fashion, product design, PR and marketing communications.
