Erwin Leo Himmel

Erwin Leo Himmel (born April 9, 1956 in Graz, Austria) is an Austrian automobile designer. He was one of the first designers who recognized the future importance of a consistent brand design in the automotive industry.

Born as the second of two sons in 1956, Erwin Leo Himmel grew up in Leibnitz, Austria. After finishing high school, he started to study architecture at the Graz University of Technology. In the second year of his studies, he read an article about automobile design, where he recognized the existence of the profession of an automobile designer. While studying further he taught himself to sketch cars by copying drawings he found in magazines. He trained himself for more than one year and became freer and freer in his style. After preparing a portfolio of his own designs, he applied for a job as an automobile designer in Germany. Getting accepted by Audi, Ford, and Volkswagen, Himmel decided to quit his studies and took the job at Audi. The former chief designer of Audi Hartmut Warkuss saw his talent and potential immediately and offered him a scholarship for the Royal College of Art in London, the international elite college in design. Himmel attended the full two-year master program and graduated in 1981 as ‘Master of Design’. These years in London, where he got to know people such as Raymond Loewy, were one of the most influencing times in his life.

Audi, 1982–1994

After graduating he came back to the design centre of Audi in Ingolstadt, Germany, and started his career. Himmel was responsible for virtually the entire range of models from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, like the Audi 80 Sedan, Avant, Coupe and Cabriolet, Audi 100 Sedan and Avant, and the Audi V8. In this creative environment he enjoyed working together with other designers such as J Mays and Peter Schreyer. In 1990, he became Director of Audi’s Munich-based design studio where he had the idea to develop a new concept. A design icon was born: the Audi Quattro Spyder, the highlight of the “Frankfurt IAA” in 1991 and a milestone in the design history of Audi.

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