• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Forum
  • Design Studio
  • Upholstery Jobs
  • Newsletter
  • Sponsors

The Hog Ring

Auto Upholstery Community

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

MINI Designer: There’s No Perfect Interior

February 15, 2018 By Nadeem Muaddi 1 Comment

The Hog Ring - MINI Designer - Theres No Perfect Interior

Christian Bauer, head of interior design at MINI, says a car’s exterior is what initially draws people’s interest — but its interior is what keeps them wanting to sit behind the wheel.

Bauer recently spoke with BMW Blog about the challenges and rewards of interior design. Although he works for a large automaker, much of what he says will sound familiar to auto trimmers, especially those that design, build and upholster full interiors.

The interview is as enlightening as it is interesting. Below is an excerpt that every auto trimmer should read:

When it comes to car design, people tend to think first of the exterior design, rather than the interior. Why is that?
The exterior forms the first touchpoint with a vehicle. It’s the first thing you see and it generates direct emotions. The exterior’s styling confers certain attributes on the vehicle, such as power, speed or agility, which add up to give it a distinctive character. And it is not uncommon for the product to make a statement by clearly conveying the status and character of its driver. The exterior design is extremely important. But what keeps the customer hooked in over the long run – as many studies have confirmed – is the interior.

What is so special about interior design?
The real acid test as far as the customer is concerned comes when they actually get inside the car – and getting this right is a far tougher task. If you don’t feel at ease in the vehicle, can’t get to grips with the controls, don’t like the materials or think the build quality is abysmal, then you’re highly unlikely to buy another car from the same brand.

An interior designer has to be adept at a host of different disciplines. You need to know the basics of ergonomics, human behavior, acoustics, control logic, and far more besides. The person must not feel restricted in their movement in any way, but at the same time they must be guided and harnessed. They must not be dazzled by anything and yet everything must be clearly identifiable. And all of that not just in a single specific situation but throughout the whole spectrum of different movement scenarios and usage cases – from configuring the car on a smartphone, to getting in and the actual driving, to getting out again. And, of course, it must all be easy and intuitive to use.

Then comes the icing on the cake: the styling of the surfaces, the coherent appearance of the parts, the overall effect of the interior.

It should also be pointed out that we work within a pretty tight set of technical constraints, such as rigidity, crash characteristics, sound insulation, wiring harnesses and material wall thicknesses. These constraints have to be manipulated in such a way that there is more room and freedom for the actual task of design. And rest assured that there will always be something in the way. Sculpting a line or a surface cleanly enough so that it doesn’t just look like covering for the technical constraints is quite a challenge in itself.

The art of interior design resides in firing the emotions and creating a feel-good factor, while working within all these complex parameters. The feeling when the Board of Management signs off a production-car interior with a broad smile on their faces is indescribable and a real reward for all the effort involved.

What would the perfect interior of the future look like for you?
I think – and, indeed, hope – there is no such thing as “the” perfect interior, otherwise we would be out of a job! In the future, there will certainly be a far higher degree of flexibility and fusion between all the areas involved, such as materials, displays, movement, sound, aroma and control. I’m excited about what lies ahead, and hope designers and engineers alike will get the freedom they need to bring about something completely new.

It’s not often that we hear from an automaker’s interior designer. However, it’s important that we do. After all, it’s their work that we repair, restore and often enhance. Understanding what inspires them, as well as the obstacles they face, puts us in a stronger position to excel at our jobs.

Of course, they could also learn a lot from us — as we do, in fact, set the trends.

To read the full interview, visit BMW Blog.

Filed Under: Archive, Concepts & Designs, Interesting Read Tagged With: Auto Trim, Auto Upholstery, Car Interior, Mini

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Edward Munday says

    February 15, 2018 at 6:24 pm

    Retired from MUNDAYS AUTO TRIM AND USED CARS HICKORY N. C.
    The perfect interior to me would be light in color, I really like biscuit color or light. Tans and Grey’s. I myself won’t and like full grain leather not this cheap stuff they split and sell you. Leather should be thick . And of coarse you want that rich leather smell .

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

THR Sponsors

Haartz Right Rail Ad - 12
NC Sewing Machines
Miami Corporation
Top Down Group
Apex Leather
  • Keyston Bros
  • Hyde Leather
  • Albright's Supply
  • GAHH Automotive
  • Douglass Interior Products

THR Favorites

Auto Upholstery - The Hog Ring - Custom Headliner

10 Cool Custom Headliners on Instagram

For many auto upholstery shops, headliner … [more] about 10 Cool Custom Headliners on Instagram

Auto Upholstery - The Hog Ring- Skiving Machine

Should You Buy a Skiving Machine?

Brent Parker of Brent Parker Motor … [more] about Should You Buy a Skiving Machine?

Auto Upholstery - The Hog Ring - Exact Art Fabrications - Starlight Headliner

How to Fabricate a Starlight Headliner

Starlight headliners that create the illusion … [more] about How to Fabricate a Starlight Headliner

The Hog Ring - Heres Where to Find Owners Manuals for Classic Cars

Where to Find the Owner’s Manual for a Classic Car

Are you restoring a classic car and need the … [more] about Where to Find the Owner’s Manual for a Classic Car

The Hog Ring - Meet Shane Lile of Sewn Tight Upholstery

Meet Shane Lile of Sewn Tight Custom Interiors

Shane Lile, owner and operator of Sewn Tight … [more] about Meet Shane Lile of Sewn Tight Custom Interiors

Auto Upholstery - The Hog Ring - Stitches Custom Auto Upholstery

Shop Profile: Stitches Custom Upholstery

Tony Miller of Stitches Custom Auto … [more] about Shop Profile: Stitches Custom Upholstery

Categories

Footer

Recent Articles

  • Try Dinamica: A Quality Alternative to Alcantara
  • Texas Upholstery Shop Damaged in Fire
  • Miami Trimmer and Girlfriend Killed in Auto Accident
  • Profit Sharing Can Help Your Shop Attract Employees
  • Keyston Bros’ Annual Customer Appreciation Day is Almost Here!

Recent Comments

  • Eric on Browse Keyston’s 2022 Upholstery Catalog
  • MichelleMilner on You Can Wear This Rolls-Royce Dash Clock
  • Core PG on Here’s Where You Can Still Buy Alcantara
  • Duncan sande on Bentley is Hiring Apprentices and Trainees
  • Adam on Every Trim Shop Should Download These Soft Top Care Guides

Advertise With Us!

We're always looking for companies to collaborate with. Watch this short video about the benefits of sponsorship and then email us to say hi.
anal porno bangbros rus porno yaşlı porno konulu porno olgun porno porno izle sarışın porno bakire sex 69 porno

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in