BMW shuffles chairs in its design department

Sun, 22 Sep 2013

BMW Group has made some changes to its design team since August 1, and has shuffled top personnel to different positions at BMW Design, Mini Design and Rolls-Royce.

The BMW Design team led by Karim Habib (middle, right) gains a new head of Exterior Design in Domagoj Dukec (right), who has worked for the exterior design team since 2010 and shaped the Concept Active Tourer.

Oliver Heilmer (left), who has worked for BMW's interior design unit since 2000 and designed the 5 Series interior, replaces Marc Girard as head of Interior Design BMW Automobiles. Marc Girard goes to manage BMW's subsidiary design group, BMW DesignworksUSA.

Martina Starke (middle, left), a textile designer who joined BMW in 2001 and was responsible for color and material design in BMW's larger cars and BMW Individual, is now head of Colour and Material Design.

Mini gets a new head of Exterior Design in Christopher Weil, who most recently worked at BMW DesignworksUSA and replaces Marcus Syring. Syring has since gone to Rolls-Royce.

For BMW's full statement, take a look at the press release below.

Personnel changes at BMW Group Design.

Munich. Since 1 August 2013 there have been a number of personnel changes within the BMW Group Design team. Adrian van Hooydonk is in overall charge of BMW Group Design, which embraces all the Group's brands, and is thus responsible for design at BMW, BMW i, BMW Motorrad and MINI, as well as Rolls-Royce. The various design studios, Advanced Design, design research, design strategy and DesignworksUSA all fall within his remit.

BMW Design
In the BMW Design Team led by Karim Habib, Domagoj Dukec has taken over as head of Exterior Design, Oliver Heilmer as head of Interior Design and Martina Starke as head of Colour and Material Design.

Domagoj Dukec, 38, the new head of Exterior Design, was born in Frankfurt and has worked in the Exterior Design BMW Automobiles team since 2010. He was responsible for designing the Concept Active Tourer.

Oliver Heilmer, 39, replaces Marc Girard as head of Interior Design. The Munich native has been part of the Interior Design BMW Automobiles team since 2000 and was responsible for the design of the BMW 5 Series, among other assignments. Marc Girard, 43, will assume management of Automobile Design at DesignworksUSA, a 100 per cent subsidiary of the BMW Group.

Martina Starke, 42, is head of Colour and Material Design. The qualified textile designer joined the BMW Group in 2001 and her responsibilities have included Colour and Material Design for the larger series cars as well as for BMW Individual.

MINI Design
The MINI Design team led by Anders Warming welcomes Christopher Weil, 38, as its new head of Exterior Design. A Bavarian by birth, he has worked as a designer for the BMW Group since 2000, most recently for Automotive Design at BMW Group DesignworksUSA. Marcus Syring, 49, leaves his post as head of Exterior Design to join Rolls-Royce. Oliver Sieghart remains responsible for Interior Design and Annette Baumeister for Colour and Material Design.

"As head of BMW Group Design I'm very proud of the wealth of talent in my team. I am convinced that through this restructuring we have given a significant boost to design in the individual brand studios and will continue to shape the future of BMW Group Design with success," says Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design.

By Damon Lowney