Story by Alwin Kichkla

Photography by Anthony Richetts

ts not the Rolls Royce Phantom coupe, the Formula 1 race car or even the John Deer tractor that will capture your imagination at Designworks USA in Calabasas, but rather BMWs Design Director Chris Chapman and his

Chris Chapman is Designworks U.S.A.s BMW design director.

insatiable need to push the very edges of design. If youre not red lighting (a term often used in drag racing to indicate too fast of a reaction time), youre not racing, says Chapman, who believes firmly in pushing the limits of his talents. If youre not on the edge, ready and willing to be disqualified, youre not designing. Designers will often say that the very concept of designing is as much an art form as it is an applied science. Aesthetics, ergonomics, sustainability and usability all play a major role in the design process and in the daily lives of users. A major goal then, for most designers, is to make the world a better place through creative objects and products that impact a positive change. Chapman, who is an alumnus of PCCs art program and has been a part of BMWs design team for over 10 years. He has helped push through and pave the way for such production models as the Z4 Roadster, the X5 luxury SUV and the newly added 1 series. I was on the phone with my wife, my fiance at the time, sketching with a ball point pen and planning our wedding, Chapman said, explaining the timing behind his inspiration for the design of the X5. It was a luxury SUV, to be the first of its kind to shift from a truck-based body-on frame to a sedan-based crossover, which would later prove to be the industry standard.

Design is very much a mystery, in that Stan Kong, who was Luus teacher at you never know when the inspiration will PCC and is director of the product design hit you, Chapman says. program within the Visual Arts and Media Another design imperative is environStudies Division, once told Luu that if you mental impact. do something and do it better than most, In the rapidly growing smart phone inthe money would follow. If youre only dustry, the need for mobile computing is worried about the money, youll only be degrowing, despite the economic recession. signing stuff other people tell you to, and Even when materials used in manufacturing the world is already filled with just stuff, have somewhat of a detrimental impact on Kong said. the environment, Forrest Luu, PCC alumnus Were like style fortune tellers, said and a lead designer for Nokia in Calabasas, Alex Shen, a former PCC art student who researches and advocates for a greener, susnow manages Toyotas Calty Design Stutainable, eco-friendly world. dios in Newport Beach. Were always tryWere always trying to find better ways ing to predict the trends people are going to to create products that do less harm to the like in the coming years. environment, Luu said. Sometimes they hit Luu, a former product and sometimes they design student at PCC, bemiss, Shen said, about lieves in a type of success designing concept vethat allows him to be hicles for the future. loved and respected by his He is most proud friends and family. of his latest design, the Its a delicate balancFuture Toyota Hybrid ing act that we as designSports vehicle, which Chris Chapman ers are engaged in, Luu combines a V6 engine said, regarding an underwith an electric motor lying theme and responsibility to make the and does so with a performance speed of 0 world a more sustainable place, while at the to 60 in four seconds. same time creating solutions to help in the An absolute dream of Shens is to be on reduction of massive carbon footprints. the cutting edge, designing a next-level fuA self-proclaimed vegetarian, Luu turistic hybrid sports car with extreme effistrongly believes in new solutions for cur- ciency and high performance. rent problems, such as the general need to I love architecture, fashion, photograconstantly consume, the use of fossil fuels phy and anything related to the visual arts, and diets that depend wholly on other Shen said, describing his sources of inspiraanimals. tion and remembering the need to think out

If youre not on the edge, ready and willing to be disqualified, youre not designing.

Forrest Luu shows off three of his cell phone designs. side the box. Though, in Shens case, inside: for he is also responsible for the design of Scions XB and newly added T2B, which he ironically refers to as the toaster box. But were not in the business of designing the same car, says Randall Smock, former PCC art student and alumnus of Kongs product design course, who now works as a senior designer for Hondas Advanced Design Studio in Pasadena. My worst day here is better than an average day anywhere else, Smock said. He embraces his designers intuition and carries it with an artistic license, using it to its full potential by breaking out and pushing the very limits of the next pure design.