{"id":75151,"date":"2026-06-30T09:27:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T07:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/?p=75151"},"modified":"2026-06-30T09:27:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T07:27:47","slug":"joaquin-garcia-electrolux-group-good-design-is-timeless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/2026\/06\/joaquin-garcia-electrolux-group-good-design-is-timeless\/","title":{"rendered":"JOAQU\u00cdN GARC\u00cdA, ELECTROLUX GROUP: \u00abGOOD DESIGN IS TIMELESS\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div><\/div>

Joaqu\u00edn Garc\u00eda Sanchis\u202fjoined Electrolux Group as\u00a0Head of Global Design\u00a0in March. In this interview, he\u00a0shares\u00a0what beautiful design means to him\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0important role\u00a0design plays in\u00a0setting\u00a0the company up\u00a0to become\u00a0challengers in the industry.<\/p>\n

Joaqu\u00edn, almost 20 years of your career has been in the\u00a0automotive industry. Can you tell us more about your\u00a0background?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI studied industrial design and then specialized in car design at the Royal College of Art\u00a0in London.\u00a0After that, I worked for several major automotive\u00a0brands\u00a0in Europe,\u00a0as well as\u00a0on\u00a0industrial and product design projects,\u00a0before joining Electrolux Group in March.\u00a0In the automotive industry, there is a strong focus on building strong brands,\u00a0and design plays a strategic role in this as one of the key contributors to building up brand awareness,\u00a0differentiation\u00a0and value. I see many\u00a0similarities\u00a0with\u00a0Electrolux Group, as brand awareness and the consumer experience are\u00a0very important\u00a0in\u00a0both\u00a0industries.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0looking forward to bringing my experience\u00a0from the automotive industry to\u00a0Electrolux Group\u00a0to help strengthen and shape\u00a0our brands through\u00a0design-led thinking and consumer-focused innovation\u201d.<\/p>\n

What does beautiful design mean to you, personally?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the automotive\u00a0world, we used to say that when you see a new car pass by, you turn your head\u00a0and\u00a0follow it with your eyes.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0a moment where you fall in love,\u00a0just\u00a0like\u00a0with\u00a0human interaction.\u00a0When you\u00a0build a relationship with that person, you get to know them more deeply.\u00a0So,\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0the first impression and then the long-term relationship.\u00a0In car design,\u00a0we\u00a0studied\u00a0this balance between\u00a0the\u00a0first impression and long-term relationship very closely.\u00a0\u00a0Overall,\u00a0good design\u00a0to me is uncomplicated. A\u00a0product\u00a0can be\u00a0complex\u00a0but its design should be timeless and sustainable. Built to last\u201d.<\/p>\n

How has the role of design evolved\u00a0over the last two decades?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cUp until\u00a015\u00a0years ago, design was very aesthetic. It was all about appearance. This changed with the acceleration of the touchscreen user interface, driven by Apple.\u00a0The Asians have\u00a0been the biggest disruptor in the past five years across all industries, I believe. They have\u00a0good design, with the Koreans and Japanese leading in terms of simplicity. When it comes to\u00a0speed, value, adapting new ways of working,\u00a0Chinese\u00a0companies\u00a0have been a wake-up call for the\u00a0Western world, helping us to grow and improve\u201d.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re\u00a0joining Electrolux Group at an exciting moment.\u00a0How can we make our brands stand out and adapt\u00a0to\u00a0increasingly competitive global markets?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of them is identity.\u00a0\u00a0Identity is\u00a0the most\u00a0important\u00a0thing for a brand.\u00a0We have\u00a0a\u00a0very strong\u00a0identity\u00a0that we need to protect. But not by fencing it in and closing it off to other influences and expansion. On the contrary, we need to evolve\u00a0our brands,\u00a0Scandinavian origins,\u00a0our\u00a0values\u00a0and our way of doing things\u00a0over time.\u00a0I’m\u00a0not saying we need to forget this,\u00a0but we need to\u00a0adapt\u00a0to the future, especially when it comes to speed\u00a0and\u00a0decision making.\u00a0\u00a0Then,\u00a0there is heritage. This is the only\u00a0thing\u00a0we have that\u00a0our Asian competitors\u00a0don\u2019t.\u00a0They have everything else – people,\u00a0talent, cash\u00a0to invest, knowledge,\u00a0expertise\u00a0and\u00a0industry – but, at the most, they\u00a0only have a few decades of heritage.\u00a0Electrolux Group has\u00a0over 100 years of history and that is something\u00a0we can be proud of and leverage.\u00a0\u00a0Finally, there is\u00a0the mindset.\u00a0The market pressure and the increasing sense of urgency\u00a0is\u00a0real\u00a0but we cannot allow\u00a0it\u00a0to paralyze us. Instead, we need to channel that urgency into action, approach our work with\u00a0confidence\u00a0and believe that we can succeed\u201d.<\/p>\n

What roles do sustainability and circular design play in the future of product design?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSustainability is strongly\u00a0connected to our\u00a0Scandinavian heritage,\u00a0values\u00a0and culture.\u00a0A core pillar in our sustainability strategy is building products that last and that are\u00a0repairable and\u00a0promoting a circular business model. This is the future of product design\u00a0with a\u00a0focus\u00a0on consumer\u00a0behavior\u201d.<\/p>\n

What is your\u00a0favorite\u00a0design period?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the\u00a01950s,\u00a01960s\u00a0and\u00a01970s\u00a0were my\u00a0favorite\u00a0decades\u00a0in the history of design. Back then, technology was important but there was\u00a0more emphasis on\u00a0innovation,\u00a0materials, physical interaction,\u00a0character,\u00a0etc\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":75149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3436,646],"class_list":["post-75151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-electrolux","tag-joaquin-garcia-en"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-07 13:31:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75151"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75153,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75151\/revisions\/75153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}