Text: Jens Persson / Top image: Fritz
Beck
"For me, UID is one of the best design schools in the world. I
think the school offers students an amazing 'starter kit'. And
while students at UID already are very aware of issues of
sustainability, I hope to further embed holistic sustainable
approaches into the curriculum, working with both staff and
students. I can't wait to start working in such an open and
inspiring environment, feeding of the creativity and energy from
all these talented people", says Daniela Bohlinger.
Daniela Bohlinger brings with her a wealth of experience from
the heart of the BMW Group in Munich where she has been driving
sustainable change for almost 13 years. Naturally, spearheading the
topic of sustainability within a global car brand has presented its
challenges along the way.
"Still today, I am sometimes critical towards certain cars that
we make. For me, some of them are still using too many materials
and the architecture is too big to be holistically sustainable.
From a personal point of view, I think my big shift at BMW was when
I understood that we are going in a direction where we simply used
too many recourses. For a whiIe there, I was considering leaving to
make more of an impact somewhere else. But then 'Project i", BMW's
plug-in electric vehicles, came along and I realized I could
actually make more of a difference from the inside", says Daniela
Bohlinger.
The lessons of a goldsmith
Daniela's perspective on sustainability has been with her long
before she became a designer, one might say for generations.
Growing up in the mountainous area of southern Bavaria the
lifestyle was one of handcraft, old school frugality and resource
preservation. It was ecological farming long before it was a buzz
word.
Her first taste of working life was an apprenticeship as a
goldsmith. Here, her relationship towards sustainability was
further cemented. Working as a goldsmith she would learn how to
keep everything, to value every last piece of waste. It instilled
in her an awareness towards the responsible use of resources.
Daniela Bohlinger's upbringing in the rural
parts of the mountainous southern Bavaria has shaped her view on
sustainability. Photo: Birgit Bitterman
"I believe designers should become more aware of what they
actually do and what kind of impact they have when they design a
product or a service. A lot of times designers create something
just for the sake of doing something cool. But I believe you have a
big responsibility as a designer to ask yourself whether there is a
real need for the thing that you are making. In the end, it's all
about raising your own level of consciousness as a designer", says
Daniela Bohlinger.
From fly cars to fly-fishing
Working 60-hour weeks at BMW in Munich, Daniela is looking
forward to swapping her regular workdays filled with PowerPoints,
CO2 calculations and technical reports with creative sessions
together with staff and students at the UID premises. However,
lively workshops in Post-it covered design studios is not the only
thing luring her to Umeå. It's also the many rivers and creeks
around Västerbotten.
"I'll be packing my rods! I'm a passionate fly-fisher and there
are a lot of great spots around Umeå. I've already been to some of
them", says Daniela Bohlinger.
