Learn how plaid seats, the golf ball shift knob and other features became a hallmark of the hot hatch.
The plaid seats in the Volkswagen Golf GTI are well-known to almost everyone. Your golf ball shift knob will be noticed by even the most keen-eyed passengers. These features are a result of where?
VW was given the task of improving the interior of the Golf before the GTI was created in the 1970’s. While brainstorming ideas, Volkswagen turned to Gunhild Liljequist, one of its first female designers.
Liljequist began her career as a porcelain painter and candy box designer. In 1964, she was hired by Volkswagen’s Department of Fabrics and Colors. Her approach to interior design for the GTI was somewhat restrained, considering she was a candy-box designer. Her design didn’t become a silly cartoon with door mirrors. Her ideas were focused on two simple elements: the plaid seats, and the shift knob for the golf ball.
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One of her trips to Great Britain was the inspiration for the plaid seat designs. According to her, she was inspired by the checkered patterns found on high-quality fabrics. Liljequist stated that black was fashionable, but she also desired color and quality.
The idea of a golf ball gear knob required more spontaneity that the seats. She said, “I just spoke out my golf and sporting associations: how about a ball as the gear knob?” She didn’t know these ideas would be staples of GTI for decades.
She has many other innovations that are not limited to the GTI interior. She designed the limited-edition Mk1 Cabriolet ‘ Etienne Auigner ‘ in 1987, paying homage to the famous producer of luxury leather goods. She created a unique Golf and discovered an iridescent pearl foil she could apply to car’s surfaces to give it a unique finish. The metallic paints that we see today were the result of her innovation with the tribute car.
Although Liljequist resigned in 1991, she has a lasting impact on the automotive industry.