DVN COO and Lighting General Editor Paul-Henri Matha attended the Car Design News People Awards in London last Thursday, 7 December. This event celebrates the people behind the designs we see on the road. Around 500 designers gathered at the Londoner Hotel, in Leicester Square, London.
14 awards were bestowed: best clay modeller; CMF team; collaboration; digital modelling team; exterior design team; interior design team; UX design team; lighting design team, sketcher; undiscovered talent; most supportive design leader; most sustainable design team, as well as awards for ‘beyond automotive design’ and ‘challenging the industry’.
The jury comprised 20 renowned designers: Massimo Frascella (JLR); Lisa Reeves (Volvo Cars); Gorden Wagener (Mercedes-Benz); Amko Leenarts (Ford Europe); Carl Gotham (SAIC); Ben Payne and Russel Carr (Lotus); Karim Antoine Habib (Kia); Pontus Fontæus (GAC); Martin Uhlarik (Tata); Simon Loasby (Hyundai); Martin Groschwald (Konzepthaus); Matt Weaver (Nissan Europe); Kripa Anathan (Ola Electric); Pierre Leclercq (Citroën); Pratap Bose (Mahindra); Dale Harrow (Royal College of Art); Julien Montousse (Archer); Olver Samson (Changan), and Robin Page (Bentley).
The event started with a cocktail reception; the award event occurred during dinner.
There were six candidates for Best Lighting Team: Lynk & Co; Changan; Hyundai (Namyang); Volvo Cars, Range Rover, and SEAT-Cupra.
The winner was Volvo Cars, with a special focus on the EX90 exterior and interior lighting.
Volvo Cars got two more awards, for best CMF team and best UX team.
Citroën got also three awards: best sustainable, exterior, and interior design teams.
Two vehicle-specific awards were also bestowed; the Dacia Manifesto won best concept car design, and the Polestar 4 was declared the best car design of the year.
Polestar 4 is well known for DVN members. We had the chance to welcome Christophe Ferreira, Design lighting Manager, during DVN Shanghai event this year who presented the lighting roadmap and especially Polestar 4 design (you can find the video on demand on our website).
Paul-Henri Matha’s key takeaways:
“The design community can be compared to lighting community: very friendly, with a lot of connection among designers even when they are competitors. Everybody is talking to everybody. There are also tier-1 and -2 suppliers and universities in the ecosystem; it’s a very rich environment. I worked with many of these designers when I worked for Renault, Dacia, Volvo, and Polestar. Some of them have changed companies. I am sure many DVN readers have worked or are still working with some of them. All of them have this great passion for automotive and for lighting!”