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Birmingham Made Me 2013 is almost upon us. The Expo will showcase the best of design in and around a City that's know all over the world as a centre of creative excellence. Staged over two weeks at the City's 'Millennium Point', it will feature giant interactive projections, a display of the regions world beating designs and even a surprise product launch. This year, the emphasis is on the crucial role that design is playing in kick-starting economic growth. Once again, the driving force behind the Expo is Beverley Nielsen, Director of Employer Engagement at Birmingham City University. But this year there's a new chairman, Marek Reichman, Director of Design at Aston Martin. Beverley has been down to the car makers Warwickshire's headquarters to meet the man with possibly the coolest job in the world of design. Beverley: 'What's the most exciting thing about being Director of Design here at Aston Martin, and could you tell us a little bit about some of the highlights of your career to date?' Marek: 'It's a boyhood dream at the end of the day. As a designer, to work for an iconic brand like Aston Martin is very special for me. I still don't think of it as a job, I have to pinch myself every day, and think, 'I'm actually going to design an Aston Martin today.' Throughout the time period, I've been here since 2005, we've created the first 4-Door Aston Martin, the most expensive and most powerful. So, more products, more ideas because of the studio and and the place that we're in.' Beverley: 'What advice would you give to young designers looking to make their career in design today?' Marek: 'You've got to have a passion and believe in what your design ethos it. You need an ethos, you need to have something different to everyone else. You're hired as a designer because you're thinking slightly different to someone else. And that doesn't mean that you alienate everyone, but you need to then tell everyone that this is a different, good idea, you need to explain that idea. Communication verbally and through hand drawings are very important for the designer of today.' Beverley: 'What does this years centenary mean to you at Aston Martin?' Marek: 'We're probably the smallest automotive manufacturer that's hit 100. That's because we do have a very strong ethos, power, beauty and soul. And everything we do is managed around that. In fact, in 100 years, we've made around 60,000 cars only, which is about the weekly production of probably the Nissan plant in the North of England. So in 100 years, only 60,000 cars, 60% of which were actually made in the last 10-12 years. You can see the growth that the company is going through and we will keep diversifying in terms of the product, and producing new product to keep going for another 100 years.' Beverley: 'How important is design to us a Region, in terms of our competitiveness? Marek: 'Here in the Midlands, there are a breadth of different sectors that design is involved in wether it's manufacturing, individual design houses, silversmithing, jewellery, cutlery making. In fact, at Aston Martin we have a very famous company that we use in the Jewellery Quarter that makes our badges still. Our badges, the emblem is a piece of jewellery for us and we wanted a manufacturer and a designer of jewellery to actually make that part. It's an enamelled part, made in a very traditional process. So there is a breadth and a depth of industry here in manufacturing and companies that are using the Midlands and the talent that exists in the Midlands, a very important area. Design is one of the keys we have to success in many ways as it's not just the visual side of how something looks, it's making it leaner to manufacturers, it's thinking about the environment in terms of recyclability or the sustainable materials that you're using so encompassing all of those things as a designer and what design brings to the world. It's vitally important that design can really make the difference between a good and bad product. We can see it through products like 'Apple', through design, yes there's software and hardware, but design is really what has promoted Apple to be the success that it is.' Beverley: 'I wonder if you could tell us about what it means to you, to be involved with Birmingham Made Me this year, as our chairman.' Marek: 'I'm really happy and quite proud that I was asked and it's an honour. Obviously, anything that promotes good design is very important to me. There is so much to draw on within the Midlands to look at how things were made, how they were manufactured and how we move forward. Design is about making things, and that's important. Now here in the Midlands, we've got some great companies and brands that are based here from the automotive sector all the way through to hi-fi, fine engineering and it's all in this area, we need to promote that.' http://www.birmingham-made-me.org http://www.embertelevision.co.uk - broadcast quality content for the web