ON THE CUTTING EDGE: A Woman’s Touch?
The New York Times reports that automotive writers covering the Detroit auto show who admiringly told BMW Group Design director Adrian van Hooydonk, that the redesigned BMW Z4 roadster with a retractable hardtop looked “more sporty, more dynamic, more aggressive and more masculine” got a “gender-bending surprise” when he brought out the two designers “most responsible for the car’s masculine swagger”:
Juliane Blasi, 32, the exterior designer, and Nadya Arnaout, 37, who did the interior.
He says the reporters were surprised. “I guess still a lot of people think that women can only design round shapes and soft shapes and fluffy stuff,” he said. “And I know that’s not true.” …
To pick the designers for the Z4 project, the automaker held a competition. Designers from both BMW studios - at the headquarters in Munich and at DesignworksUSA in Newbury Park, Calif. - submitted sketches and eventually full-size clay models. To ensure that personalities were not a factor in the judging, the creators remained anonymous. …
[A]lthough some people are surprised that the Z4’s designers are women, Ms. Blasi and Ms. Arnaout said being women didn’t mean they were locked into a feminine style. “If you look at the car you should not be able to see whether it was designed by a woman or a man,” Ms. Blasi said.
You can see the 2009 Z4 up close at the NY International Auto Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which opens to the public this coming Friday.
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