Franz von Holzhausen, renowned head of Tesla design and three-time Spark Award winner, has joined the Spark Transport Design Jury. He joins a jury chaired by Gorden Wagener – Vice President Design, Daimler AG, Christopher Chapman, Chief Designer Hyundai Design North America, Klaus Tritschler, VP Design ICON Aircraft, Terence Young, Design Director & Senior Associate Gensler, David Muyres, Executive Director Global Product Innovation Johnson Controls Inc. and Dan Sturges, SAM Consultant & Alt Trans pioneer
As Chief Designer, Franz Von Holzhausen is responsible for driving the overall design direction of Tesla, and is charged with establishing a world class design competency for all future Tesla design concepts and production vehicles.
Prior to joining Tesla, Franz was Director of Design at the Mazda North American Design Center. While at Mazda, Franz pioneered the Nagare surface language design philosophy. The word Nagare itself is but one of 150 different ways to describe motion in the Japanese language.
The Nagare and Furai concepts were the progenitors of The visual interpretation of what has become the new design language for the Mazda brand. These two initial concepts led to the development of the Ryuga, Hakaze and Taiki As well as the Kazemai – the latest concept unveiled in Moscow. Franz also led design of the Mazda RX-8, Tribute, and Mazda5 production vehicle facelifts, and was instrumental in the design development of the 2009 Mazda6 and Mazda3.
Before spearheading design at Mazda, Franz held the Design Director position at General Motors. The Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky, and Opel GT are all examples of Franz’s efforts at GM. Franz began his career as Assistant Chief Designer at Volkswagen, where he was involved in projects from Concept One to the Microbus.
The entries are open until October 17th and the entry fees are available here
All designers, art directors, design firms and departments, ad agencies, marketing and branding practices, clients, manufacturers, student and non-professional or novice designers are welcome to compete or to join Spark Community.
Spark accepts and promotes all types of design, ranging from product design to graphics and branding, digital animation to brick and mortar architecture. Entries are accepted for any designs launched from January 2000 forward.
