Performance Design isn’t only about function – it also has a touch of drama and storytelling. An object performs by revealing its meaning as we use it, and in the way it manifests itself in the environment.

In the same way, beauty isn’t only in the appearance of the object. We believe that true beauty reveals itself in the interaction between the user and the object. There and then, something beautiful becomes something that matters.

Therefore, our true satisfaction as designers lies in the pleasure of the final user. This is where we define the true performance of a design: to what extent it creates a pleasurable relationship with the user and the context.

This vision translates into our approach to design: starting from the bigger picture, the context, the meaning, the aimed-for enjoyment. This filters step by step into all the different aspects of the project and design.

Within the automotive design, this means putting a lot of focus on volume and proportions, which we see as fundamental to both the design and its capacity to create beauty that endures over time.

At the same time, and at the other end of the spectrum, we believe that the care and dedication given to a design should be felt in its smallest detail.

Lowie is CEO and Creative Director of granstudio. He is part of the 3rd generation of a prominent Belgian artistic family. His fascination with the physical world led him to industrial design, to a strong awareness of the play between aesthetics and mechanics, and to the philosophy of people-centred design.

After studying at the University of Delft in Holland, he left for Italy, where he started his career as an automotive designer at Pininfarina. After being responsible for several successful designs, he was appointed Design Director and led the automotive design department of Pininfarina for several years.

In 2010, he was one of CAR magazine’s “World’s 25 Most Influential Car Designers”. He was responsible for the design team of award-winning cars, such as the Pininfarina Nido (Compasso d’Oro ); the Maserati Birdcage 75th (Louis Vuitton Concept Car Award); the Pininfarina Sintesi, the Ferrari 458, and the Alfa Romeo 2uettottanta .

Lowie is also the new president of the Interieur Foundation, a Belgian foundation that promotes contemporary design for living, and curator of its 2012 Biennale Interieur.

granstudio is a logical step is his evolution as a designer, which has always looked for a balance between his passion for car design and the need to deepen his experience within a broader context.

For a ‘one off’ we design a sportscar that wants to be a counterbalance within a segment where ‘louder’ seems to be the only direction in which to move.

Therefore a design that connects with the deeply rooted values of italian car design, where performance and elegance meet. A car that feels at home on the piste, but is as well a statement of taste when parked outside the Milan Scala. With a certain restrain that in essence is the expression of confidence.

We work with several car manufacturers, both in Europe and Asia, often behind the scenes. Projects include long-term Brand Design Studies, Styling Research and Design Development up to production. We are also often involved in the early phases of a project to define volumes and the layout of a car through Proportion Studies.

Our flexibility and capacity allows us to take responsibility for the full design development of projects, from ideation to design freeze, or to give creative input at a certain point within the process.

When thinking of future mobility, we need a paradigm shift: we must no longer approach the car as a single object, but look at all cars together as one pulsing system where vehicles and people act, and above all, communicate together.

This system must not deny the individual sense of freedom that is at the core of the existence of cars, but should have the capacity to liberate it again. When we consider that ‘intelligent’ system, and not the single object, as our new solution field, many opportunities arise that have been left unexplored until now.

We as designers are interested in what this paradigm shift could mean to cars and the people using them. How can we improve them?

What can we do when we no longer need those 180 billion tons of metal that today is added to cars to make sure they are good at crashing? How can it help to recreate stronger sensations when driving? How can it improve the quality of our living environments?

One key is that we do not just focus on designing a vehicle, but move towards a transversal experience of our mobility. This means creating beauty within mobility, so that all the different aspects of our mobility connect in a coherent way with each other into an enjoyable, fluid experience.

While the industrial revolution brought us cars as objects, the digital revolution of connecting them into a beautiful system has only just begun.

This is the subject of a new granstudio research project, which will embody this new vision on mobility and its vehicles.

Part of this vision is recognising that only through experiencing pleasure changes can take place.

Lowie Vermeersch was the curator of the Biennale Interieur 2012, a design event that is organized by the non-profit organisation Interieur Foundation and that attracted almost 90.000 visitors between 20 and 28 october.

As curator, Lowie opted for a renewal of the Biennale that for the first time in its long history took place both at the fairground and in the city centre, emphasising it as a cultural event that is at the forefront of new developments in interior design.

Lowie is approaching the Biennale with the same search for coherence and attention to detail that characterises all of granstudio‘s projects. It is therefore no coincidence that Lowie is involved in all the aspects that will define this 23rd edition of the

Biennale: the architectural plan, the exhibition design, the visual identity and curating the many design projects that have been especially developed for the Biennale.

All those aspects revolve around the metaphor of the city, a temporary design city that for 10 days will be the place to discover, feel, explore and enjoy what design has to offer for our living environment.

More information about the Biennale Interieur 2012 can be found at www.interieur.be.

‘Interieur set a new standard for the design fair experience during its 23rd outing in Kortrijk this week, thanks to forward thinking new curator Lowie Vermeersch.’  Wallpaper Magazine

‘Must say that @Interieur_be is best-produced design fair I’ve seen. (…)’  Marcus Fairs ( Dezeen ) on Twitter 

‘…there’s a real sense of energy and excitement coursing through this year’s biennale. This is due in no small part to Lowie Vermeersch, (…) curator of this year’s Biennale.’ Betty Wood - Port Magazine

‘ This biennial is so exciting simply because they’ve got the mix just right.’  Thomas Wagner- Stylepark

For the Interieur Biennale 2012 in Kortrijk Belgium, granstudio designed pop up bars as an integral part of the scenography. They allowed the public to eat or take a rest within the atmosphere of the Biennale. They were a symbol of the approach to this Biennale: create a quality context that allows the public to meet and experience design rather than just be informed about it.

The bars were developed in collaboration with Chloroform.

Granstudio collaborated in the development of an artwork by artist Pieter Vermeersch near Geneva, Switzerland. The installation ‘Intervention artistique sur les silos à sel de la Voirie de la Ville de Genève’ was awarded first prize for an integrated artwork in an architectural context by the City of Geneva.

The work transforms a salt silo, containing four salt containers, into an interactive artwork. Four light containers, with colours derived from those at the salt lakes, vary their intensity based on the amount of salt in each respective container. Placed along the highway, it creates a dynamic interaction with the daily viewers.

More work from Pieter can be found at www.pietervermeersch.be.