Origins
The design studio was founded in 1972 by designer Charles Pelly with the name DesignworksUSA (renamed Designworks in 2015). The company began in Malibu Canyon with three designers and early customers included Hyster and the Otis Elevator Company. In 1978, the company expanded and moved to Van Nuys, and set up its first sister studio, D2, in Detroit. In 1986, Designworks designed the seats for the BMW 8 Series (E31), which was the company's first involvement with BMW. In the same year, the company moved to Agoura. In 1988, Designworks moved to Newbury Park, California, Newbury Park, and began designing for Nokia, Compaq, Siemens and Adidas .BMW ownership
In 1991, BMW acquired a large percentage of the company, and Designworks started its first car exterior design project in 1993 for the 1998 BMW 3 Series (E46). In May 1995, BMW purchased the remaining percentage of Designworks. At this time artist David Hockney painted an Art Car in the studio. In 1998, Designworks opened a studio in Munich, and in 1999, Henrik Fisker was named president. In 2001, Adrian van Hooydonk became president. In 2002, Designworks expanded its automotive studio in Newbury Park. Verena Kloos was president from 2004 to 2009. In January 2006, the company opened a new studio in Singapore, and in 2007 unveiled their new studio wing in Newbury Park. On December 1, 2009, Laurenz Schaffer, formerly director of Designworks's Munich studio, became president. In April 2012, Designworks opened a new studio in Shanghai. From 1 August 2016 Oliver Heilmer was appointed as the new president of Designworks. He remained in the role until 2017, when he moved to Munich to take over responsibility of Mini (marque), MINI Design. The current president of Designworks is Holger Hampf. Appointed in the role on 1 September 2017, Holger originally joined Designworks in 1998, responsible for Product Design. From 2002 to 2010 he was a member of Designworks management team in Los Angeles. Designworks has worked with a wide and varied range of clients including Embraer, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Boeing Business Jets, EVA Air, Pilatus Aircraft, John Deere, Advanced Medical Optics, Music Man (company), Ernie Ball Music Man, Bavaria Yachtbau, Dornbracht, Acer Inc., Acer, HEAD and Singapore Airlines.References
{{Automotive industry in the United States BMW BMW designers Companies based in Ventura County, California Design companies of the United States Industrial design firms Automobile designers