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Video: Chris Bangle delivers “Empowerment: Design without Designers” talk at Creative Mornings/London

Chris Bangle – the undisputed front man of car design – needs little introduction, so the prospect of the former BMW Design Director and now founder of Chris Bangle Associates giving a talk in our home town of London was too good to pass up. His presentation (which you can watch in full in the video to the left) touched on his time at BMW, but was more focused on the idea of empowering others to create: "design without you in the middle", as Bangle says. From the story of the co-creation of the staircase in his Italian studio to the idea of encouraging people to think about their culture when designing, his philosophies transcend disciplines.

Nissan designs A Class catamaran

Nissan has today announced that it has designed and built a catamaran as the latest part of its non-automotive design and development program. Matt Struble, who led the design and modeling team at Nissan Design America (NDA) in San Diego, will be racing the Class A Catamaran in the 2011 World Championship from August 13 through 20 in Skødstrup, Denmark. The team sought to improve and smooth all aspects of aero- and hydro-dynamics of the vessel, with the boat's composite structure designed and built in-house.

UK car production tops 1.5 million

THE NUMBER of cars built in the UK topped 1.5 million last year, the highest for six years, amid what's being called "surging" demand at home and abroad. Production increased by 3.1% in 2013, with analysts predicting that output would reach record levels of around two million by 2017. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said the UK was set to become the third largest car manufacturer in Europe after Germany and Spain.