Benjamin Heirich strolls relaxed into the showroom and takes a seat at the large conference table. We are surrounded by eyewear collections, some of which are legendary. How could it be otherwise? Benjamin is one of the most distinguished and experienced product designers in the premium eyewear sector. He works as Head of Design and Engineering in the Munich office of the Italian eyewear group De Rigo. There he is responsible for the eyewear division of an iconic design brand - Porsche Design. Ben has been designing their eyewear collections for almost a decade, previously at Rodenstock and since 2023 at De Rigo. His design style is clear and functional, his collections are anything but just merchandise: they solve real, functional issues and problems through thoughtful and aesthetic constructions. For this interview, he posed as an eyewear model for photographer Leopold Fiala - and did it really well.

Benjamin Heirich / Photo: Leopold Fiala

Ben, it's fair to say that you know what you're doing. After all, you started your career as a journeyman optician. How did that shape you?

Very strongly. Like others in my team who have this optician background. The interaction between the two worlds creates a great opportunity: I know exactly what problems opticians face and what solutions help them. Good storytelling plays a major role for every frame and collection. Every product needs a story. We provide opticians with insights into our design concepts and the materials we use. And, of course, about the Porsche Design brand so that they can understand it properly. This is all knowledge that they can use in their sales talks. In addition to the target group of end consumers, our most important partners are opticians. We want to be as attractive as possible for them so that they list us.

In addition to your bachelor's degree in product design, you also have a master's in product planning. How does that affect your work?

Knowledge of the product planning process helps me to see the big picture. You don’t just see what the individual designer is crafting and drawing in secret, but you have an overview of the entire production chain. This is particularly valuable if, like me, you lead an interdisciplinary team in which each member comes from a completely different background and has specific expertise – in aerospace or cell phone design, to name just two examples. I have to guide this expertise and use it in the way that is best for the respective product or project. But the creative power for new, innovative ideas always comes from the team. It can be restrictive if, like me, you have this trained Porsche Design eye for concepts. My team helps me to break out of learned patterns in order to come up with new solutions. That’s why I’m quite happy to let the others have their say first, to give them space for their ideas. All ideas are explored in terms of their potential: where could new target groups be tapped? Where could new technologies be developed? As a creative leader, I am required to be flexible, but I also have to be able to argue and mediate. I am also a big fan of focus: not too many projects, but a few important projects in which you really get to grips with every detail.

 
At some point and somehow, the moment must come when an idea for a new concept forms in your head. How exactly does that happen?

Thanks to my background at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) in Schwäbisch Gmünd, I am trained to develop ideas in a very structured way. It's not as if I'm waiting for inspiration. And I assume that most designers can't afford to wait for inspiration to strike. There are strategies that lead to new products and ideas. Of course, we have a strong creative team. We are always pushing each other forward. But what really helps most in the search for ideas are defined structures and processes. The decisive stimulus can come from any conceivable direction. We once developed a hinge where the inspiration was the wheel of an office chair.

 
How do you brainstorm?

We use creative techniques and, based on the motto “more is more”, we put as many project ideas as possible on the table without judging them, in order to get a design pool. These are then evaluated and filtered according to defined criteria. As a rule, two or three approaches emerge that the team agrees to pursue. In my experience, the more projects you bury, the clearer what is left at the end. Drawings are created from the favored approaches, hung on the wall and presented to our product manager Katharina, marketing manager Dominika and brand director Stefan. This way, everyone is up to date on what is currently being developed in our product design.

Photo: Leopold Fiala

When you work for Porsche Design, you and your team are caught between the concept of timelessness or the declared desire to create timeless design and the challenge of a lifestyle brand to also set trends and design eyewear that is a true fashion statement. How do you deal with this tension?

Every product is a witness of its time. Its form is inevitably influenced by social developments and trends, cultural conditions, ideas, interests and preconceptions of the customers and, of course, the designers and their background. In this respect, it is simply clear that every product carries a time stamp with it that records where and when it was created. But an idea has no expiration date. It endures, remains and can always be traced. Just like F. A. Porsche's idea of creating sunglasses with an interchangeable lens mechanism that makes it possible to change the tint of the lenses for any light situation in seconds.

The P'8478 from 1978 is still selling very well today …

That's right. It is still one of the best-selling frames from Porsche Design. It shows that, in my view, the term timelessness means finding a solution to a specific problem that will always remain relevant. Furthermore, timelessness should be seen as the opposite of short-lived fashion trends. We rise to the challenge of designing frames that don't make you look old and outdated in a short period of time. The way we achieve this is quite clearly different from that of many of our competitors: we concentrate on the function and leave out everything that is superfluous. In this, we follow in the tradition of Bauhaus, HfG Ulm and also the design philosophy of HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd, where I come from.

What exactly happens when you focus on function in the design process? We quickly arrive at the relationship between form and function, don’t we?

Yes, of course. Reduction has the potential to create elegance. But implementing minimalism is always more difficult than adding a little something. In perceptual psychology, there is the model of the resting end pole, which marks the point from which it simply can't get any quieter. In the opposite direction, it looks quite different. Chaos has no end pole; it can be increased infinitely.

 
But not every solution that perfectly implements a function is necessarily elegant. Is it?

That is the art. We want to develop solutions that we celebrate in their reduction and function, but which also have an aesthetic appeal and don't just look like an engineered element. We want you to be able to express an attitude and a certain understanding of aesthetics with the personal accessory you wear on your face.

 
What kind of signal do people who wear your frames want to send to the outside world?

Frames from Porsche Design are a clear statement of premium quality. Of course, this is against the backdrop of an iconic sports car brand that stands for performance, sportiness and engineering. Our customers certainly want an image transfer from this unique brand. You could also say they long for class. Glasses are the most important personal accessory a person can have. First contact with others always happens through the eyes, and everything in this sphere is extremely noticeable. By choosing glasses, you can easily change your character a lot or support it. At Porsche Design, we can also get quite loud and push the distinctive, such as masculinity and sportiness, to the extreme. Edgy shapes and an extremely strong, striking expression are almost demanded by some of our customers because they want to visually develop their personality through their glasses. In contrast to prescription frames, which first and foremost fulfill the “I need!” and have to correct a visual impairment, the “I want!” is clearly in the foreground when it comes to sunglasses. This opens up completely different possibilities for us in marketing. I want to change my look! I want the aura of Porsche to radiate on me! I'm getting sunglasses from Porsche Design.

Photo: Leopold Fiala

What is the relationship between Porsche's automotive design world and Porsche Design's eyewear world?

There is a good current example. We have just developed a new series, the Streamline Series, which will be launched in January. The design language of the Porsche GT3 RS – more precisely the spoiler design – was the inspiration. Of course, we didn't put a spoiler on the glasses, but if you hold them next to the GT3 RS, you immediately recognize that both worlds belong together. It is a transfer of certain design elements from the currently most powerful Porsche to a pair of glasses. We have transferred the distinctive design of the spoiler to the eyewear design through expansions, designed columns and interesting rear and cross-sections. We have allowed a certain technicality to be reflected, for example, in the type of screw connections. The transfer also continues in the function and the selection of materials. For example, we have temples that can be inserted, which make the whole thing look sleeker and sportier, of course. We use titanium that we have made in Japan, because that's where you get the highest precision of fit and the best quality and performance. We also use the extremely light high-performance plastic RXP, which we have made in Switzerland, for the Streamline Series. In addition, our pads are made of Medical Silicon. All the materials are biocompatible on the one hand, and on the other they provide performance, lightness, stability and precision. At the same time, all our frames are also perfectly adaptable to the wearer's physiognomy. Ideally, the wearer shouldn't even notice that they are wearing them. 
Comfort is key for every glasses wearer!

 
You mentioned your academic background. Why did you choose the University of Design, the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) in Schwäbisch Gmünd? Because its design philosophy was simply compatible with yours?

I think that it was the HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd, which is rooted in the tradition of Bauhaus and the HfG Ulm, that made me the designer I am today. My time there was very influential. Before my studies, I had a different idea of design – one that was more strongly characterized by individual handwriting and artistic expression. In Schwäbisch Gmünd, however, I was confronted with a different approach that largely removed personal handwriting and gestural expression from product design. Instead, it was about systematically understanding problems and creating functional, durable, and user-oriented products. This approach focused on the question: How can design improve the interaction between people and products? The critical examination of design as a problem-solving discipline taught me to change the way I think: What do users really need? How can a product be made more intuitive, durable and sustainable? How is it used, and how can it support people in their everyday lives? This approach continues to shape my work today. For me, it's not just about aesthetics, but above all about creating solutions that are relevant and timeless.

They sound a bit like Dieter Rams' 10 principles for good design, don't they?

Absolutely. The idea of good design being as little design as possible and creating products that are useful sums it up well. Rams had also already formulated and encapsulated the idea of sustainability – in the early 70s!
It is important to me to think about products from the point of view of their use, to keep taking new perspectives on a product and to create innovations on this basis.

Thank you for the interview, Ben!

Further reading

Designers are, above all, problem solvers

An interview with Roland Heiler, the (now former) managing director of Studio F.A. Porsche and Porsche Design.

Many hands make light work

Paul Wagner talks to Axel Schmid, Head of Product & Project Design at the legendary lighting brand Ingo Maurer.

The two percent rule

A conversation with Danilo Silvestrin, who, as a designer, architect and art expert, has always been in the right place at the right time to witness cultural history.