The setting is the fashionable and smart Via Monte Napoleone, where BMW opened the new two-storey Milanese House with the installation “A Creative’s Journey”, which can be visited during the Design Week. Those entering the courtyard are attracted by the fabric-covered columns simulating a car wash, a few “talking” seats with texts narrating BMW Design’s mindset, and above all a yellow resin sculpture that takes the iconic front end of the 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL and turns it into a powerful sculptural volume.
The installation provides insights into BMW Design’s creative process and is a bit like peeking into the brand’s creative rooms. Domagoj Dukec, Head of Design, says that, this year, the occurrence is an opportunity not to show cars but to represent a mindset; and he himself takes visitors on this ideal journey through the German manufacturer’s creative process, as he is interviewed in real time to explain the different exhibits. These include samples of materials to be used in car interiors, all inspired by a principle of circularity and therefore recyclable and bio-based, such as the hemp fabrics. The new concepts for mobility and urban design and an interactive installation, phygital, to offer a practical experience of how vehicles will interact with humans in the future in an emotionally engaging and personalised way.
At the heart of it all is the question of what design requirements will have to be met in the future in order to make the vehicle a true “favourite place”, bearing in mind that for the BMW Design team today, the transition from a concept linked to “form follows function” to “form follows experience” is central. Because human perception, and not function per se, will increasingly be the key factor in design decisions.
