CMF is having a moment. From hypercars to cargo trucks, studios to start-ups, the designers shaping Colour, Material and Finish are defining how we experience movement, space, and culture. With this series, Tocco spotlights the CMF MatterMinds: a global list of standout designers driving change across industries.
Each edition will focus on one sector—starting with Automotive & Mobility—before we glide into Fashion, Furniture, Electronics, Architecture, and more. This is our love letter to the tacticians of touch, the alchemists of hue, the minds behind the material world.
Here are 19 figures shifting the future of mobility—one surface at a time.
1. Christopher Kroener – CMF Designer, Audi
From snow-dusted palettes to ski-goggle purples, Kroener’s touch on the Audi RS e-tron GT Ice Race Edition reveals his poetic grasp of nature-inspired CMF. His work draws from ambient light and temperature shifts—creating immersive, emotional experiences through trim.
What Tocco loves: Kroener’s CMF reads like a landscape painting in motion. His talent lies in transforming speed into stillness, and texture into story.
2. Susan Lampinen – Group Chief Designer, Color & Materials, Ford
The woman behind the Mustang’s paint and interior evolution, Susan Lampinen has shaped Ford’s CMF direction for over a decade. She balances American boldness with material longevity—ensuring the Mustang feels both iconic and perpetually renewed.
What Tocco loves: Susan embodies long-game CMF. Her impact is deeply embedded in the DNA of one of America’s most enduring design legacies.
3. Solenne Ruitenburg – CMF Lead Designer, Dacia (Renault Group)
Subtle renderings, intricate details, and a precise sensitivity to material perception define Solenne Ruitenburg’s aesthetic. Her 15+ years span automotive, fashion, and interior design—giving her a strong grip on trend forecasting and future-ready design systems.
What Tocco loves: A rare ability to unite artistic sensitivity with forward-thinking strategy. Solenne's work feels intuitive yet deliberate—exactly the kind of material leadership that quietly changes everything.
3. Jakob Lukosch – Head of CMF Design, Xiaomi EV Europe
From Gaggenau’s precision-built appliances to NIO’s conceptual EV platforms, Jakob Lukosch blends performance with narrative. Now at Xiaomi EV Europe, he’s designing for a market where softness and technology must harmonise. His prior experience spans brand DNA development, luxury codes, and platform-level CMF innovation.
What Tocco loves: Jakob’s design lineage shows a rare fluency between sectors. He doesn’t chase trends—he sculpts futures.
4. Sharon Gauci – Executive Director of Design, General Motors
From Cadillac to Hummer EV, Sharon Gauci has led some of the most ambitious design moves in American automotive. With 240+ awards and a fearless embrace of new materials, she’s helped define GM’s design language for the next generation. She was also the first winner of the Women in Design Award by Good Design Australia.
What Tocco loves: Sharon brings architecture-level thinking to CMF. She sees surface as structure, logo as language—and materials as brand ethos.
5. Amy Frascella – Director of Colour & Material Design, Jaguar Land Rover
Frascella redefines luxury through the lens of responsibility. At JLR, she’s led bold material shifts—such as the Kvadrat premium textile collaborations—while keeping authenticity at the core. Her vision shaped the material DNA for Range Rover, Defender, and Discovery.
What Tocco loves: Amy doesn’t treat sustainability as a layer—it’s embedded in her design codes. Her materials are emotionally honest, technically rigorous, and quietly radical.
6. Alena Gersonde – Senior Colour & Material Designer, Mazda Europe
A rising voice in CMF, Alena Gersonde bridges German exactitude with Mazda’s crafted warmth. At Mazda, she’s helped translate brand philosophy into layered textile stories and regional hues. She’s been recognised by Car Design News as a next-gen material thinker.
What Tocco loves: Alena’s palette thinking feels soulful and specific. Every shade and grain seems to reflect place, memory, and purpose.
7. Francesca Sangalli – Head of Color & Trim Concept and Strategy, SEAT/Cupra
Francesca spent 16 years shaping advanced material narratives for Mercedes-Maybach and AMG. Now at Cupra, she infuses youthful interiors with Iberian spirit and composite experimentation. She’s a strategic voice guiding SEAT’s CMF identity forward.
What Tocco loves: Francesca's materials don’t just perform—they seduce. We love how she bridges radical luxury with cultural nuance.
8. Laetitia Lopez – CMF Studio Manager, Cadillac
Laetitia leads Cadillac’s dedicated CMF studio with the mindset of a fashion house. From sustainable recycled yarns to high-contrast interior themes, she crafts emotionally resonant, forward-facing palettes.
What Tocco loves: She’s retooling American luxury with rhythm and surprise. Her work hits that rare note between couture and concept car.
9. Carolin Schütt – Lead CMF Designer, MAN Truck & Bus
In the utility vehicle world, Carolin is a disruptor. She brings trend literacy and sustainable ambition to MAN’s truck cabins—designing with comfort, durability, and visual pleasure in mind. She’s also a vocal advocate for CMF within commercial design circles.
What Tocco loves: Carolin reminds us that material dignity belongs in every category. Her work proves that CMF can (and should) move beyond prestige vehicles.
10. Dong Tran – Founder & CEO, Ryvid
Dong Tran’s journey from Vietnam to California runs on two wheels and ambition. After stints in both Honda and Icon Aircraft, he launched Ryvid—a brand rewriting the rules of urban mobility through aerospace-inspired EV motorcycles. The Ryvid Anthem is light, bold, and built with adaptability in mind—featuring a removable battery and an adjustable seat.
What Tocco loves: Dong’s design ethos channels pure efficiency with emotional elegance. The Anthem feels like the fixed-gear bike’s evolved cousin—lean, local, and electric. His work reminds us that minimalism isn’t an aesthetic choice, but a strategy for impact.
11. Kana Watanabe – Senior CMF Designer, Renault Ampere
Kana Watanabe brings a weaver’s intuition to automotive surfaces. With a master’s from RCA and hands-on textile knowledge, she bridges the physical and the digital—applying her design fluency across Germany and France.
What Tocco loves: Her CMF touch is nuanced, intentional, and deeply tactile—like she’s designing not just for sight, but for memory. We admire her ability to weave technical rigor with poetic materialism. Read her interview "Inside Renault Ampere's Innovation Lab: Kana Watanabe on How CMF Is Shaping the Car of Tomorrow" with Tocco here
12. Stephen Stanforth – Chief CMF Designer, LEVC
As CMF Chief at the London Electric Vehicle Company, Stephen Stanforth carries the task of reinventing an icon. From black cab to EV fleet, LEVC’s evolution is also a material story—and Stanforth is steering it. His design language pairs the visual poise of legacy transport with the durability demands of electric innovation.
What Tocco loves: Stephen isn’t chasing flash—he’s refining utility. His work at LEVC proves that CMF can be quietly radical, transforming trusted shapes into future-proof experiences without losing their soul.
13. Clara Bartholomeu – CMF Designer & Lecturer, PEEC Mobility
Equal parts researcher, designer, and educator, Clara Bartholomeu sees CMF as a strategic lever for sustainability and social value. Her collaborations span automotive to interiors, where she helps brands navigate emerging material tech with local impact in mind.
What Tocco loves: Clara’s materials tell stories—of place, of purpose, of responsibility. Her lens is wide, and her ethics are sharp. Read Clara's interview "Designing High-End EV Interiors from repurposed vehicles at PEEC" with Tocco here
14. Ella-Jaye Taylor
At Bentley Motors, Ella-Jaye Taylor brings a rare blend of technical depth and creative precision to luxury automotive interiors. Her foundations were shaped at Verne (Bugatti Rimac’s autonomous robotaxi), where she worked across every interior commodity—developing soft trim, embroidery, embellishment, jewellery finishes, and diving deep into material testing.
What Tocco loves: At Verne, Ella-Jaye was shortlisted at the CDN Awards 2024 for her collaboration with Ultrafabrics—designing coated textiles with embedded antimicrobial technology to boost user confidence. One of her proudest achievements: a hand-drawn, non-repeating marble grain for a bespoke floor finish—engineered in close partnership with suppliers for maximum durability and visual impact.
Honorable mentions
These designers are shaping CMF in ways that caught our eye. Their approaches are bold, their philosophies clear, and their trajectories steep.
15. Nadia Marcus
Now shaping McLaren’s material language, Nadia Marcus brings a global perspective sharpened by roles at Tata Motors, Nissan, and LEVC.
16. Sarthak Bhatnagar
Sarthak Bhatnagar is an alumnus of MIT Institute of Design (MITID) in Pune, India. He is a Transportation Designer at MOSTAVIO, a company involved in transportation design and engineering.
17. Peishan Chen
Peishan Chen is currently serving as CMF Designer at Aston Martin. She is an alumnus of the Material Futures program, with a strong focus on innovative materials and design.
18. Stephanie Waser
Stephanie Waser is currently serving as the Head of CMF Design at NIO. Based in Munich, Germany, she has been instrumental in shaping NIO's design philosophy, which emphasizes sustainability, user experience, and innovative materials.
19. Koshik Singh
Koshik Singh serves as a Senior Industrial Designer at Orient Electric, focusing on product design and innovation.
Stay tuned for the Top CMF MatterMinds - Interior & Furnitures – coming soon.
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What’s driving material decisions behind the scenes? Beyond the showrooms and strategy decks, Tocco believes the future is being shaped by those who touch the materials themselves—and those who dare to rethink them.
That’s why we created UNBOX: the world’s first portable material library for these pioneers. It’s our tactile research tool disguised as a product—a curated selection of next-gen materials from the world’s most promising innovators, packed into a portable format for designers, educators, and creators.
Check out UNBOX project here
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