For Oliver Heilmer, Head of MINI Design since September 2017, design
is not just a career, it’s a vocation. The Munich native has been
driven by the desire to create new cars since he was a boy. Here, the
43-year-old tells us about his idea of good design, his plans for the
future of the MINI brand and the sense of boldness and daring they require.
1. Why did you become a car designer?
Ever since
I can remember, cars have totally fascinated me. I’ve always drawn
cars – and always had a big smile on my face at the same time. It
started with scrawling extra spoilers onto photos of cars in magazines
when I was a young kid. Later I began to design and draw my own cars.
It was soon clear that I wanted to be a car designer. Back then, this
wasn’t an established career as such, like medicine or law. So as you
can imagine, my family were rather sceptical. A pre-university
internship at a well-known carmaker in Stuttgart after my Abitur
[secondary school leaving exams] strengthened my conviction that this
was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Not that I would have
guessed back then that I would end up where I am today.
2. Where do you find your inspiration? What gets your juices
flowing?
In essence, I am fascinated by anything that
fuels my imagination and sparks my creativity. For example, I find
music extremely inspiring – anything from jazz to hip hop. However,
the aesthetic of technical products also excites me. I’m thinking of
products that have been developed and built by engineers from a purely
technical standpoint – but which still exude extraordinary beauty. You
may be familiar with the Faema espresso machines from the 1950s and
60s, for example. That’s the sort of product I’m talking about. Since
I was a small boy I’ve also been fascinated by the combine harvester
at my grandparents’ farm. I was spellbound by it and I could spend
days driving on it and just gazing at it. And it goes without saying I
like beautiful things. Although beauty is, of course, very subjective.
3. What do you think of as “good design”?
For
me, good design is consistent and reflects a purpose. The function of
a product has to be immediately clear from its form and, above all,
usable. It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with beauty.
Another ingredient of good design for me is that it is not too loud.
But at the same time it should polarise, at least to some degree, or
it will risk being anonymous. There are many examples of car designs
which initially polarise opinion but despite this – or perhaps because
of it – blaze a trail for a whole new vehicle segment. The BMW X6 is a
case in point. Good design does not necessarily need to come from a
designer, although a certain feeling for aesthetics is required. The
metalwork for the bodies of many classic cars was beaten into shape
using wood. The guys doing it at the time weren’t designers, but
particularly gifted craftsmen with just this sense for the unity of
form and function. It’s unlikely they knew much about theories such as
how to create surface line sources, accelerate surfaces or position
highlights. They just found a way of doing it right.
4. What does MINI mean for you?
To me, MINI
embodies a confident and modern attitude far removed from luxury in
sheer size. It doesn’t matter how exclusively or expensively equipped
a MINI is, it is always compact on the outside. In my eyes, this shows
that people who drive a MINI do so for their own enjoyment. Of course,
they want to be distinctive and express their personality through
their car to a degree. But they do that through the inner values of
the car. In my view, MINI is classless in how it achieves this. And
then you have to bear in mind that many MINI customers have a unique
and profound connection with their cars. MINI is a very emotional
brand, and you don’t find that very often in this form in the car world.
5. What excites you most about your job as a car
designer?
As car designers we are actively creating an
important part of all our futures and we are always looking to make
the best out of this exciting time. Of course, we don’t know exactly
what the future will bring. But I’m sure the technological changes
we’re experiencing will be positive. Knowing that I can contribute to
this process is all I need to get out of bed in the morning. Another
thing that excites me about my job is that design gives you the chance
to stir it up and challenge certain things. I find that extremely
energising. But it’s not enough for me to make demands without
suggestions. In a few years, I want to be able to look in the mirror
and say I’ve done everything I could to bring MINI design and
therefore the MINI brand into the future. Preserving existing
achievements, things that are already impressive, is not where my
focus lies.
6. Where do you see MINI in the future and what sort of things
are you keen to encourage as Head of MINI Design?
The
way I see it, MINI is a brand which is not only capable of constantly
developing, changing even, but which needs to do so. The product range
we’ve put together at MINI is very good. From a quality point of view,
in particular, we’re scaling greater heights than ever – and
outperforming many of our competitors. However, it’s also clear that
our path can not only be evolutionary. We’ve got some big items on our
agenda: autonomous driving, electric mobility, digitalisation and
shared services, to name but a few. And we need to be shaping these
areas. To this end, the key thing for me is that the substance of MINI
remains authentic. After all, MINI is an urban brand and that’s
something it should continue to embody in the years to come. So for
me, MINI in the future will be pure electric. Clearly, much still
needs to be done in terms of infrastructure. But I’m positive about
the future. Another important issue which will occupy our minds a
whole lot more than it does today even is the relationship between car
and customer. We know that our MINI customers have a special
connection to their car and also the brand. So wouldn’t it be great,
in the future, to also be able to communicate and interact in a way
we’re only currently familiar with between people and good friends,
instead of via menus and clicks? I see great potential for MINI as a
pioneer here.
7. Let’s talk about electric mobility: What is the most
appealing thing about creating an all-electric MINI and how does the
design of such a vehicle differ from that of one with a conventional
combustion engine?
New technologies are always
exciting for us as designers, because they inject fresh energy and can
therefore initiate something totally new. The electric drive system
and its packaging benefits allow us to challenge established geometric
solutions. The drive system is significantly smaller, but the
batteries take up more space than the fuel tank they replace. In the
future, this will give us whole new freedoms as far as interior space
and proportions are concerned. And I see great potential here, in
particular, for MINI.
8. You’re currently working on the first all-electric MINI,
which you’ll unveil in 2019. What can we expect?
The
all-electric MINI will be a genuine MINI. In other words, it will
major on emotion and have a minimal footprint. The car’s electric
nature will be visible in its details – e.g. unconventional and
innovative details which reference the traditional MINI world but
which at the same time combine it with new technologies. 3D printing
will certainly play a role. I can’t give away more details, as we’re
still working intensively on the design and there are still decisions
to be taken.
9. So what can we expect in future from MINI and, above all,
from MINI design?
MINI does not dwell on the present
or the past, even if we do have a strong history to call on. The
classic Mini was designed squarely for a particular purpose and
developed in response to a powerful need. This is one of the reasons
behind its status as an icon today. I’m keen to project this core
further into the future – with all of the possibilities that this has
to offer us. It is this balancing act between tradition and future
focus that makes my work at MINI Design so incredibly exciting for me.
At the same time, MINI has a license – an obligation even – to
provoke. Indeed, MINI is an extremely emotional brand. We could and
should allow ourselves to be more daring more often, even if that
comes with a risk of making mistakes. Ultimately, you see, it’s about
emotion. For me, MINI is no longer only a product; I see it as
embodying an attitude. MINI is about constant change and the urban
environment; its heart beats to the rhythm of the city. And for me
MINI is definitively about diversity – the very opposite of
monoculture. MINI cannot be pigeonholed. All in all, you can sum this
up as a fundamental openness. And I believe that MINI has to work with
others significantly more in future in order to achieve this. By that
I mean collaborations which don’t only have a substantial knock-on
effect, but which most importantly think beyond the boundaries of the
car itself – as we have already done with MINI LIVING and MINI
FASHION. I’m convinced that MINI as a brand also works beyond the car.
And I’m keen to accelerate the connectivity essential for this in the future.
10. How will that look in detail?
With an eye on
current developments, we are, of course, asking ourselves what will
set a MINI apart in future. Will it be the floating roof or the
hexagonal radiator grille? Or will the design of the interior
determine the exterior, given the living space inside the car that
will come our way as a result of autonomous driving? However it
happens, our task will be to make a MINI recognisable as a MINI, even
if – to overstate the point – at some point in the future our roads
will be dominated by autonomous rectangular boxes. I’m in no doubt
that our focus in the future will shift. We will no longer be creating
just cars, but experiences. MINI will be recognisable by the
experience and by an honest concept which will continue to excite and
stand apart from the crowd. I expect the fundamental needs of our
customers to remain similar in the future: they want to keep on the
move and up-to-date, they want their needs to be anticipated and, in
so doing, they want to be helped to enjoy interacting with their
vehicle. Take the example of connectivity. Here, we’re talking not
only about display sizes, but the emotional connection during usage. A
central issue here is interaction, and this is something we have to
shape. One approach for MINI here would be to push the technology
required into the background and instead offer the MINI experience in
hallmark style. There is a big opportunity here, but also a major
challenge. MINI has the chance to follow a new path, to go its own way.
Thank you very much!