Ian Cartabiano President at ED² between 2018-2022

My four and a half years as President of ED² were perhaps the best professional years of my career. I felt extremely lucky to have had the chance to lead, be part of the creative team there, and to be able to work in the most beautiful design office in the world. Going to work every day in the Cote D’Azur, I was always well aware of the lucky turn my life had taken. As the first, and only American, perhaps I brought an overabundance of optimism to the way I decided to guide the studio, but I always believe that clear, decisive direction backed by a positive spirit is the best way to lead.

During my time as President of ED², we had a high rate of successful design output, enhanced our creative/agile digital process, remodeled almost all the building, created the Paris '24 Olympic clothing for Pan Europe Team Toyota and built a closer relationship with TME and Design HQ in Japan, all while dealing with the global covid pandemic which struck particularly hard in Europe.

Considering some of the ED² designs I'm most proud of from 2018 to 2022, here are just a few;

• The Aygo Cross advanced production model and prologue concept
• The 2019 Lexus LF-30 Electrified Concept for the Tokyo Motor Show
• The IMV Zero concept
• The 2022 CHR Prologue concept and production car
• The bZ Compact SUV concept
• The 2021 Toyota EV Compact Cruiser
• And finally, probably the most exciting highlight was 2021 BEV Event in Tokyo, presented personally by Akio Toyoda, where 11 of the 16 vehicules were designed/created and visualized by our ED² team.

Finally, my biggest take away from my time at ED²was the creative freedom, innovative processes and endless drive from the entire team working together was key to our success. I always used to say, "Small Team, BIG Impact" when describing ED². The fact that a design team of our size had so many proposals succeed is testament to the creative effort behind every project. This "awesome" team made my decision process invigorating and rewarding every day. I couldn't have been prouder of what we all accomplished together to help make ED² the most prolific and successful studio in Europe.