He was born in 1974 in Kortrijk, Belgium. He grew up in an artistic family in the Belgian countryside, and his parents made a point of ensuring that Lowie and his three siblings spent every evening drawing and developing their artistic skills. His siblings indeed became successful artists, but Lowie’s interests extended in other directions: he loved machines and anything that moved. At the age of 12, he tried to build a car out of wood, but the project was interrupted when he failed to properly fix the wheels. He was as a teenager when he first heard about the existence of a ‘design’ profession, which essentially combines art and machines, and where how things look and how they work are essential. This was the basis for Lowie’s decision to go into vehicle design. This dream took him to the University of Delft in the Netherlands, where he studied industrial design from 1992 to 1998, before moving on to Pininfarina in Italy, where he completed his apprenticeship. After his studies he returned Pininfarina to work. In 2004 he was appointed Chief Designer and then, from 2007 to 2010 he was Design Director. These advances also show his talent, diligence and competence. But Lowie’s interests went beyond car design, he was passionate about mobility. He loved his years at Pininfarina, participated in the design of many cars, learned all the ins and outs of cars, but felt the need to return to his broader passion, mobility. In 2011 he founded his own company, Granstudio, based in Turin, an innovative car design, mobility research and consultancy firm. Their expertise and vision are exemplary, and their ability to adapt to a changing world enables innovation that stands out.
Lowie’s approach was greatly influenced by Matthijs Van Dijk at the University of Delft, who highlighted that style, function and the object itself are not the end goal, but a means to a higher end. This higher goal is the mobility of people. In Lowie’s own words, “Granstudio […..] is a creative space and a multidisciplinary team exploring the bigger picture of ‘people on the move’. It’s a space with deep knowledge of vehicle design, but we use it as a tool in our quest to create meaningful mobility for people and society.”
Lowie believes in working across disciplines, combining different fields and creating harmony between them to achieve a higher goal. His broad vision and openness is the real key to success.
He approaches the issue of sustainability from the point of view of energy efficiency, but he think it important not only during use, but also during production. Furthermore, he believes that it is not enough to make cars electric, it is also important to shape society’s attitudes and for example, to promote car sharing as a new trend, as an alternative way.
In the studio, one of their mottos is “We are interested in the future of reality, not the fantasy of the future.”