JEEPNEYS flaunting the Benz logo like this keep Camacho’s emotional connection to his country. photo: Benzworld.org
Wini Camacho is truly Pinoy. He sees the humor in jeepneys flaunting the Benz logo, the symbol of automotive opulence, on their stainless steel hoods. In a Saturday morning interview, this veteran Mercedes Benz designer lets out a hearty laugh when this writer refreshes him of such fond memories. “I don’t think the Mercedes Benz headquarters would encourage that, but I find it flattering. It only shows which brand they really value or look up to.”
If those jeepney drivers’ dreams to drive a Mercedes Benz would most likely remain just dreams, Wini has realized his—to design for Mercedes Benz in Western Europe. And he has been living this dream job for more than 15 years now.
Wini—who in an earlier interview in 2009 told Inquirer Motoring how in 1997 he was a struggling transportation designer in Mercedes Benz in Irvine, California, driving himself in a beat up Mazda 626 he got for $500 from a used-car shop—is an industrial design graduate (cum laude) of the University of Santo Tomas. He then pursued a degree in BS Transportation Design at the Art Center College of Design in Vevey, Switzerland, in 1995, and finished his BS Transportation Design with honors at the Art Center college of Design in Pasadena, California, in 1998. From there, he started his professional career as transportation designer of the Mercedes Benz Advanced Design North America in Irvine, California. Then he became senior transportation designer for Mercedes Benz Design in Sindelfingen, Germany. He had also been assigned in Turin Italy’s Stola SPA (a Mercedes Benz subcontractor), then in stints in Yokohama, Japan and Carlsbad, California.
For the past five months Wini has been based in Beijing as the styling manager of Mercedes Benz Advanced Design Center of China.
Before joining Mercedes Benz, it was a constant uphill battle for Wini. For starters, a course in industrial design didn’t come cheap. “I didn’t consider myself well off because, first, I almost didn’t finish school for lack of funds. I really had to work hard. I had to be creative to get the money to pay for my tuition.”
Wini remembered his tuition at the time was P1,500 per semester. “Our family had some financial difficulties in the 1980s but these were not serious enough to stop me from going to school.”
He said it was during his Art Center days in California that he came seriously short of funds, and he was on the brink of giving up on his studies. But one way or another, he was able to make ends meet.
WINI Camacho (center) with his parents, wife Maricel and Don Jaime Zobel
Once he hurdled those financial obstacles, though, a world of opportunities presented themselves. After finishing studies in the States and Europe, he found himself employed by Mercedes Benz, driving his own 180 Kompressor C-Class in Germany.
Wini doesn’t disclose his starting and present salary. But he does give a ballpark figure. A typical starting monthly salary for Benz designers, he says, comes to around 4,000 euros gross. Experienced designers could be paid between 5,000 and 8,000 euros. For design managers, that goes substantially higher.
“The opportunity to be trained as a designer in Europe and the United States was a big thing. I was influenced by three different continents—Asia, America and Europe—and I got a good global overview of design with my training exposure in these continents.”
China is it
Camacho confirms the observation that there has been an increasing number of industrial designers migrating to China.
“There’s a trend for companies—not just car designers—to set up design studios in China, especially in the Shanghai and Beijing areas. Almost all of the big companies have some sort of design presence in China now.”
Among the two Chinese mega-cities, Beijing is becoming the preferred site. “I think more companies realize that Beijing represents the real China better than Shanghai,” Camacho reveals.
Camacho observes that car companies send their most experienced designers to China, but they would also hire many of the local designers.
“It’s important to hire local designers because they know the market much better than the expats,” he explains, adding that Mercedes Benz itself has employed the services of a number of local designers.
Camacho’s design headquarters in Germany includes engineers, modelers, project managers and about 50 exterior and interior designers. The total studio workforce, he estimates, would run into 300.
“Fifty designers are not a lot. Japanese or Korean design studios employ hundreds of designers,” Wini noted.
Wini acknowledges that he’s where he wants to be—right at the heart of the action as far as the automotive industry is concerned. “China is the biggest thing right now. It is the biggest car market in the world. Interestingly, it was while I was in Beijing that I realized China is now the most diverse car market in the world. You see all the brands from America, Europe, Asia and from China itself. I think no other car market in the world has this kind of mix of car brands in one place. It’s amazing.”
Camacho points to his wife Maricel. “She prefers to live in China. We get more amenities there and household help. I still prefer living in Germany. I feel more in control with my life. In China, because maybe of the new environment, I’m still finding my way around.”
Emotional connection
Professionally, however, home is where the three-pointed star directs him to. And he never forgets that wherever he is, Mercedes Benz is always held in the highest regard. It is a standard that offers Wini a wealth of ideas when it comes to design options.
“For designers, it is very important to get some emotional connection with the design. Design is very emotional. Each designer has his own unique interpretation of what design is. The emotional attachment to a design may be very strong, but at the same time they have to fit the design philosophy of Mercedes: timelessness, strong link to heritage, proportions, presence, and understated luxury. Those are the core values.”
Wini, who would shortly conduct a lecture on design processes and design works at the Ayala Museum, let out one more smile before ending the interview. Was it still because of the thought of rundown jeepneys seemingly kept forever running by the Mercedes Benz logo on their hoods? Maybe. Wini never did sever his emotional connection with his own country.