The Form Whisperer. The designer Carl Magnusson experiencing the BMW Individual 7 Series.

He worked with Charles and Ray Eames, creators of the eponymous chair, icon of
modernism, with Gae Aulenti, Richard Sapper, Ettore Sotsass and Frank Gehry - a
veritable Who's who of contemporary design. Carl Magnusson, Canadian of Swedish
origin and long-time Knoll's Director of Design in New York, is truly a
designer dyed in the wool - a form whisperer who understands the hidden nature
of shaped things. His creative élan is formidable and infectious - "a designer
never shuts down", he says.

When you spend time with Carl Magnusson, objects seem to come alive. They tell
stories about themselves, about how they were conceived and shaped. No thing
which is usually passed by unnoticed, be it a fire hydrant by the road or a
mailbox, nothing as seemingly bland as a gutter or windowsill escapes Carl
Gustav Magnusson's awareness and immediately triggers a stimulating and witty
discourse.

We met in the heady, mountainous Engadine valley of Switzerland to discuss his
other grand passion. "I'm a car nut from day one", Carl Magnusson confesses. As
long as he can remember, he has been fascinated and inspired by cars. At the
age of ten young Carl was drawing automobiles, he devoured car magazines and
sales catalogues to begin modifying and welding on his own - "the hot rod and
custom magazines gave you the license to cut apart cars. It was the prototype
process long before I knew the meaning of the word." To Carl Magnusson's acute
and original sense of tradition hot rods and the wildly eclectic custom
creations are the "unsung folk art of America", however not yet deemed worthy
of museum curators' attention.

Later, as a furniture designer, the spirit of his childhood endeavors led him
not only to remain abreast of the work of car stylists, but to collect vintage
cars which he races together with his wife Emanuela, herself a designer of
renown. Recently he took part in the prestigious and challenging Mille Miglia
race from Brescia to Rome, competing with other collectors of legendary sports
cars. How could a professed car aficionado choose designing objects that are
fixed and not given to movement rather than shape automobiles - that ultimate
expression of mobility? Carl Magnusson answers by quoting Andy Warhol's maxim
that you should not make your passion your profession so that it remains your
diversion.

The first spin with the 7 Series, custom-made by BMW Individual, the company's
exclusive Individual department, took Magnusson and his family from Zurich over
mountain passes on to the Italian autostrada all the way to Tuscany. "What we
experienced during our drive with the twelve cylinder-powered car was the
fusion of form and function. Truly a luxury car with the characteristics of a
sports car." Magnusson vividly remembers the BMW's agility in manoeuvering
tight corners, its taut steering and the easy and quick acceleration so
necessary for winding mountain roads and tiny villages. Add to that cruising
the highways leading south with the relaxed assurance a superior car lends its
driver. As a designer he experienced the car as a shifting shape in
continuously changing landscapes.

If there could be a basic principle governing the creative force of Carl
Magnusson, it would be this: design is function with cultural content. "We
create products that are always embedded in a context. Good industrial design
has a story to tell about its inception and its process, much like examples of
the traditional craftsmanship of artisans. Besides, products with a strong
identity have a greater chance of establishing themselves in the global
marketplace."

After completing his studies at the prestigious Chalmers Institute of
Technology in Gothenberg, Sweden, Magnusson spent his first years as a budding
designer in the studio of Charles and Ray Eames. 1976 Magnusson moved on to
Knoll, Inc. in New York, a company creating designer furniture for home and
office which had also been founded by a couple back in 1938. Florence and Hans
Knoll invited the most famous architects and designers of their time to create
products for their firm, attracting luminaries such as Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe, Eero Saarinen and Marcel Breuer. And Carl Magnusson created for Knoll
various award-winning designs of his own. In addition to that he lectures
regularly in the USA and Europe and has founded an in-house academy as well as
the Knoll Museum.

Obviously, luxury takes on a special meaning for someone who is busy and a
frequent traveler. "The contemporary take on this notion embodies privacy and a
sense of being pampered". To Carl Magnusson another important aspect in this
revised concept of luxury is automotive technology which has created invisible
"helpers" that augment handling and enhance safety. In the case of the 7
Series, for example, a parking aid which is "like a horizontal sky-hook saving
you from your own misjudgment", adaptive steering and the self-closing trunk
lid. "All of it has been taken care of for you" sums up the designer's
impression of luxury driving. "That we expect sumptuous and exquisitely
finished materials and surfaces in this kind of car, despite the technological
subtleties, is part of the tradition of the concept of luxury. Leather and wood
is what we have come to expect - cultural content."

That a company such as BMW offers up-market customizing by its "Haute Couture"
department BMW Individual of its products along side the quality serial
production makes absolute sense to Carl Magnusson. "Customizing is the natural
extension of our desire to keep our identity and to express ourselves to
ourselves, and more overtly to others as well. There are as many introverts as
there are extroverts in the customer base - a car with this kind of finish is
thus able to appeal to both because it does not try to impose itself. There is
a need at all levels for individuality because you want to be able to choose
above and beyond the very good basic selection. A reflection of whims, if you
will."

Carl Magnusson thoughtfully walks around the deep black limousine, running his
hand over the pencil-thin seams and the gleaming, curved metal body with the
concentration of the uncompromising connaisseur. The craftsmanship of
manufactories, he explains as he thoroughly scrutinizes the BMW, has been
replaced by the craft of machines. Good industrial design, however, continues
in the spirit of this traditional culture of quality and value. "We as
furniture designers have learned a lot from automotive design as well as from
quality cell phones and computers", he explains. The way Nokia's luxury mobile
model "vertu" or Apple's "iPod" have been designed using state-of-the-art
materials is a reflection of discriminating consumers' expectations and their
keen sense of things well-made. "Dealing with these kinds of objects on a daily
basis shapes a designer's perception as well as that of the customer."

With the discerning eye of the industrial designer who understands the
challenges of serial production, Carl Magnusson goes on to examine the BMW
Individual Merino Champagner leather seats, the BMW Individual Prestige Wood
Mahagoni, which maritime character is highlighted by inlays of Maple and the
interior fittings of the doors and the dashboard. "You can always tell when
you look at how the leather has been pulled around corners - this is flawlessly
solved. The details are to specification, a fine example of mechanical
craftsmanship. The leather itself is beautifully supple and soft, very much
like the kind we use for chairs or couches at Knoll." Delightedly, he spends
time gazing at the small, leather-covered tables that fold out for the backseat
passengers. "I admit I have not tried them out, I do prefer sitting behind the
wheel."

In the course of our conversation a German term keeps reappearing -
"Formensprache", a favorite in Magnusson's vocabulary. "You need not be a
designer to learn the language of forms. It is intuitive; how else could one
explain why we are immediately drawn to some objects and reject others." The
art of the designer lies in applying this special grammar to achieve effects.
If design speaks to us as Carl Magnusson believes, what story does the BMW 7
Series have to tell? "This car is the redefinition of the fast luxury car,
executed in a visually brilliant manner. Notice the BMW has generous dimensions
without seeming ponderous. Not an ounce of fat on its muscular surface. When
you walk around the car you see that it has an excellent stance, a strong,
balanced presence sitting solidly on all fours, as if ready to leap - stately
yet taut. The interplay of these forms suggests reined in power", the
specialist says, "this translates into power and nobility."

Every design holds a promise - another favorite maxim of Carl Magnusson. "That
is why the shape of a car can tell me what it can do. The silhouette of the 7
Series is a metaphor of power, elegance and understated presence. It is simple,
really, if an automobile`s styling suggests speed, then it had better be fast.
On the other hand, such a vehicle should not look too light, otherwise this
image would not support our need for comfort and safety." That design should
contain an element of surprise, challenging visual conventions, is as much a
part of the creative process as is dealing with emotive, perceived values. The
unusual rear styling of the car which ever since the new 7 Series premiered has
caused much comment, is an element that Magnusson likes very much. "People
crave what they don't know. As designers we have the responsibility of giving
shape to this unformed yearning. This is why experimentation, the careful,
conscious breach of convention is so necessary in our work. Good design gives
us an idea of how things could look. For some its just not so easy to
understand this Formensprache right away."