How Depeche Mode and Vinyl Sleeves Shaped Lamborghini's Design Chief
The Beyond podcast pairs Head of Design Mitja Borkert with music-industry creative Simon Halfon.
Lamborghini's fourth Beyond podcast episode pairs Head of Design Mitja Borkert with Simon Halfon, the music-industry designer and film producer behind George Michael and Paul Weller album art and the Oasis Supersonic documentary.
A different posture from Sant'Agata Bolognese
Lamborghini's willingness to let Borkert sit across from a record-sleeve designer and talk about Depeche Mode signals confidence that the brand's creative foundation can withstand casual scrutiny.
From East German radio to Centro Stile
Borkert grew up in 1980s East Germany consuming Western music through radio stations, hand-drawing record sleeves, and developing the visual obsession that carried him from Porsche in 1999 to Lamborghini's design studio in Sant'Agata Bolognese.
Emotional impact over aerodynamic optimization alone
Borkert's design methodology prioritizes emotional impact over aerodynamic optimization alone, and the podcast frames that philosophy as reassurance that electrification will not sand down Lamborghini's edges.
Borkert and Halfon between the Revuelto and Lanzador concept
The Revuelto and Lanzador concept, both visible in the episode's setting, represent two different expressions of Lamborghini's current design philosophy and carry the fingerprints of the cultural cross-pollination Borkert describes.
Why the brand is explaining its design choices now
Lamborghini is investing meaningfully in explaining why its cars look the way they do at a moment when the mechanical character of the brand is changing faster than at any point since the Miura.
The sketch swap on black paper
The episode closes with Borkert and Halfon swapping disciplines, sketching on black paper with white pens in a Centro Stile technique that strips away expertise and exposes pure creative instinct.
The teenager who drew himself into record sleeves now leads Lamborghini design
As a teenager, Borkert hand-drew himself into recreated record sleeves, a detail that captures the ambition and imagination of the man now shaping every Lamborghini in the hybrid era.