Atlantic Canada’s Transportation Design Industry Gets a Boost From New Saint John Studio
SAINT JOHN — CAM Institute of Design, an industrial design college, has opened the region’s first transportation design studio, with an aim to make electric vehicle design an increasingly important part of its educational focus.
“You can imagine with a new EV industry evolving so much if we can come up with designs that can be utilized by [big] brands,“ says Kamran Mohammed co-founder of Creative Art Multimedia Inc. (CAM). The centre started in 2019 after Mohammed and his partner, Winston Mendez, realized there was a market for cultivating Atlantic Canadian design talent in the communications and industrial design space.
“When you hold a pencil, you can draw anything and you can build a prototype – that’s what we do here.”
The reveal of the 3,000-square-foot space at the former Maritime Singer Building, a historic location originally built in 1912 as a car manufacturing facility, was fitting, as the CAM team which now calls the space home will be focusing on electric vehicle design and other projects related to transportation design.
The studio space also features a number of transportation design-specific tools imported from Japan and Germany, including virtual reality tools for 3D modelling and visualization, augmented reality tools, 3D modelling software for surface development, and 3D printing.
“The overall thing is that we’re trying to train the talent and keep the people here and keep the economic [benefits] here,” Mohammed says.
“You have come a long way in a relatively short period of time to bring this one-of-a-kind Institute in the region, to what it is today. A respected college that cultivates creative designers and allows them to learn and work all at once on real-world projects. You are preparing those enrolled here for exactly what they need to master in order to step into the workforce,” Saint John East MLA Glen Savoie said at the studio’s grand opening. He was on hand to deliver remarks on behalf of the Minister responsible for Economic Development and Small Business, Arlene Dunn.
“The electric vehicle industry, I don’t know if saying it’s booming is enough to accurately describe what was going on, but you’re positioning yourself to be a destination point for design concepts that will become tomorrow’s EVs,” Savoie added.
“I have heard ‘You can’t do that’ so many times in my career,” Michael Uhlarik, head of design at Potential Motors told the crowd. The company, founded by UNB grads intent on supplanting the combustion engine with an electric equivalent, specializes in off-road electric vehicles.
A 25-year veteran of vehicle industrial design, Uhlarik has previously worked with Yamaha, Bombardier Recreational Products, and Damon Motorcycles.
“I am very proud to be Canadian, and my parents were immigrants, their story is your story in many, many ways,” he said to CAM founders Mohammed and Mendez
“This country punches above its weight in almost every single category that matters including design, especially I would argue, design and creativity.”
In his professional life working with transnational corporations, Uhlarik says Canadians are at the forefront of design.
“I have found Canadian artists and designers working at the highest levels of the biggest companies and big names that are familiar to everyone. But we’re Canadians. We don’t brag, we just get the job done,” he said.
Working with Fredericton-based Potential Motors, Uhlarik says he still gets to travel the world and teach others about the world-class industrial design that’s happening right here in New Brunswick.
“I am really confident that we have the talent locally and that we can attract international talent to come here and learn…I’m really excited to hopefully be a part of some way to support CAM and see this grow, and this kind of attitude, propagate onwards and upwards.”
For their part, Mohammed says he and Mendez are looking forward to providing even more options for students at CAM who want to pursue transportation design, leading to careers in anything from bicycle design, to concept artistry, to autonomous vehicle design or a combination of all these skill sets.
“The teaching and the projects go hand in hand,” Mohammed says. “[The students] will also get to study with industry professionals who are actively working on projects. So when they finish their education they will have so much in their portfolio.”