Exterior Designer Subum Lee’s: Path to Polestar
Polestar is overflowing with passionate people. Some are excited by numbers, others about words. Some bolster innovation. And most are jazzed up to be part of the electric revolution. They could have been anywhere, but their path led them here. This is the first of a series of features about the people that fuel Polestar.
Subum Lee was born and raised in Korea. In Korean, ‘Su’ stands for “best of the best” while the family name ‘bum’ means “standard.” Perhaps it’s what keeps him sharp but grounded, for Subum’s designs are both understated and edgy. Minimalist with a twist. Most noticeable in Polestar 4, of which Subum was the lead designer.
We can’t know for sure, but we can assume that his style is a result of his past experiences. What we do know, however, is that moving countries as a teen, securing a scholarship to a university in Detroit, bumping into a fellow car-designing Korean, and getting ‘discovered’ while sketching at an airport would eventually lead him to Polestar.
This is Subum’s path to Polestar.
It was quite the coincidence, I should say. I just bumped into this guy, and when I heard of car design, I felt like this is what I want to do.
Finding a way to express yourself in a new country
Subum was a quiet, computer game-playing, comic book-reading kid growing up in Korea when, as a teen, and without much say in the matter, his parents moved the family to a new country. India was hot, crowded, and full of new impressions. At the time, Subum didn’t know the local language and his English vocabulary was scarce, so expressing himself fully would become a challenge.
His language difficulties would also come to influence his majoring subject in high school. Economics was out of the question, while art would let him express himself in other ways than the spoken word. Subum ended up pursuing arts, and as time went by, he felt increasingly content with his sketches and paintings. A sentiment that was echoed by his teachers.
Art would become Subum’s way of expressing what words could not. “I wasn't able to speak English and that was one of the ways in which I could have some kind of freedom to be myself and express what I was capable of,” he explains. Commended by friends, classmates, and teachers, Subum soon grew fluent in the language of art.
Then and now, Subum gladly calls it his “second home.”
Scholarship wanted
Like many before him, Subum looked to the United States googly-eyed. With his American Dream well and truly alive at the end of his high school years, he made a deal with his parents. If he could secure a scholarship to an American university, they would support his dream. So, he did. With the portfolio that he had worked up over the years painting and sketching in India, Subum managed to get a scholarship to the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
Set on pursuing graphic design as his major, Subum was queuing to get his campus ID card when he started talking to a fellow countryman. The person in front of him in the queue said he was attending the car design programme at the university. Subum thought it looked and sounded cool, and just like that, he had a new major. “After I’d heard him talk about car design, I knew I wanted to do that. It was quite the coincidence, I should say. I just bumped into this guy, and when I heard of car design, I felt like this is what I want to do,” Subum reminisces.
Even though his path would lead to car design rather than art, Subum still carries his sketchbook around, drawing everything from people on the street to the buildings he passes.
Spotted: talented, upcoming car designer
During his college years, Subum was sitting at the airport one day, sketching. Typically, on his days off from car design studies, he’d sketch things other than cars. But on this day, he was sketching a car. As he was sketching, a man approached him, glancing at Subum’s sketchbook. The man assumed Subum was a car designer but was informed that he was only in the process of becoming one. They started chatting, and Subum was introduced to the man’s wife and kids.
Just before the family trotted off to their gate, the man turned to Subum to say: “Here's my business card. We currently have an opening for an internship in car design at the company I work for that might interest you.” Subum tells us about what was going through his mind at the time. “I was like wow, is this really happening,” Subum recalls. “So, I contacted him, applied, and got the internship.”
This was the turning point that would finally give him enough confidence to pursue a career in car design.
As designers, we put a lot of effort, maybe even soul, into creating great designs.
Life at Polestar
Later, an internship would also bring Subum to Sweden, his now home of 8 years. During his time at Polestar, his unique design style has helped shape the front end of Polestar 3, giving the car its distinct face featuring the SmartZone. What’s more, Subum is the lead exterior designer of Polestar 4, our electric coupé SUV.
Design speaks volumes. If worked-through properly, the final product can embody all that a company is about – its goals and its ambitions. After all, the product is the outcome of countless feedback rounds, revisions, and discussions about look, feel, innovation, sustainability – and through that, it speaks for itself.
The product can also say something about the designer. “As designers, we put a lot of effort, maybe even soul, into creating great designs,” he comments.
With that, we’ll leave it to our readers to decide what it is about Polestar 4 that speaks most to them. Find all the information here.
