How BMW Designworks Turns Circularity Into Creative Fuel - Yanko Design

"BMW's design philosophy operates on a simple premise: emotion first, specs second. Adrian van Hooydonk, head of design, doesn't mince words about this. Customers feel a product before they ever parse a data sheet. This creates tension when sustainability enters the frame. Circular design has historically meant compromise, a sense of settling for less in service of doing good. The Neue Klasse series, especially the all-electric iX3, flips that script entirely."

""Circular products can't feel like a compromise," he explains. "They need to feel like more, not less." The circular strategy addresses CO2 reduction at every manufacturing touchpoint, but the real shift happens upstream, in how designers conceptualize materials before a single prototype gets built. Sustainability becomes narrative architecture rather than regulatory compliance. Designworks and the Benefit Mindset Julia de Bono runs Designworks. The studio has shaped aircraft interiors, digital interfaces, and consumer products across every category imaginable."

Design priorities place emotional experience above specifications, asserting that customers sense products before examining data. Circular design has often implied compromise, but the Neue Klasse and iX3 reframe circularity as an opportunity rather than a limitation. The design team treats circularity as a creative constraint, embedding CO2 reduction across manufacturing while shifting focus upstream to material conception before prototyping. Sustainability is reframed as narrative architecture rather than mere compliance. Designworks adopts a "benefit mindset," aiming to make sustainable options superior in experience through tactile, visual, and emotional evaluation of materials so circularity strengthens brand value.

Read at Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News