Mercedes-Benz Launches 'Style' Division

Mercedes-Benz has launched Style, the Stuttgart-based automaker's answer to BMW's DesignworksUSA design consultancy. Mercedes-Benz's Style sub-brand will be charged with designing bespoke luxury goods from aircrafts, to yachts, furniture and more. Its aim is to place the company in the avant-garde of the luxury market.

This is not necessarily a new proposition. Carmakers have long toyed with other creative territories be it collaborative work with other designers, or indeed straightforward fashion sponsorships. It is, after all, an effective way to promote a brand outside the automotive world.

"We are a design consultancy but only for selective projects – ones that fit our brand," notes Vice President of Design Professor Gorden Wagener. "In this sub-brand we create very selective luxury products in order to underline our image as a luxury maker and as a leading company in design."

Style was officially announced in Geneva on 4 May at the European Business Aviation Convention with the unveiling of Mercedes-Benz Style's first project: Eurocopter EC145. The low volume luxury twin-engine turbine helicopter is the only one of its kind to seat eight passengers. The team at Style redesigned its interior space referencing current Mercedes cockpit design with the extensive application of lightweight wood, soft leather and chrome. The R-Class inspired modular interior enables the seats to be easily reconfigured or removed to create extra luggage space.

The logistics

The EC145 is the work of the advanced studio in Como, Italy where the designers are currently tackling a prototype yacht for an unnamed client. Style will be headed up by the Design Director of the main advanced studio Steffen Köhl, but remains under the overall leadership of Wagener. He says: "All the work will be done by our advanced studios and wherever the project is, that local satellite studio will take it on."

Wagener notes that unlike rival studios like BMW DesignworksUSA, Style will not be profit oriented. "When you make your own revenue, you have to take all jobs and this is exactly what we don't want to do." Instead clients will range from high-end established manufactures of luxury goods to wealthy individuals and innovative, young companies. Mercedes will have strict control on whom they deal with and how their aesthetic input is interpreted. "We will work within a certain corridor which we will discuss with the client," says Wagener.

The sub-brand will take on both commissioned work, for which the rights to the styling service are sold to the product manufacturer, and the allocation of design licences. In this case a manufacturer will be granted the right to use the styling, but all rights remain with Mercedes.

"We are lending our handwriting to others," explains Wagener. "They should always be recognized as a product from our house which means we will carry through the DNA of our core design philosophy," he says warning: "We will never do something that isn't Mercedes."

So far the team have tackled a helicopter, a yacht and bespoke furniture. But to what degree is Style willing to widen its portfolio? "That depends – designing pasta, for instance, could be fun," jokes Wagener. "But I'm not sure we would go that far with Style. It almost depends on how special the project is."

Style will not get involved in the automotive area – this will remain with the core unit Mercedes-Benz Design. Wagener, however, is keen to utilize his expertise in car design, which he notes: "is after all the most sophisticated of industrial designs. We on the other hand will gain expertise from our clients and other designers which will then influence our core business," he notes candidly. "It is very inspiring and it will enable us to find solutions in automotive design."

Related Article:
BMW DesignworksUSA: Creativity through Diversity 

By Nargess Shahmanesh Banks