Tesla loses lead interior designer

Tesla has lost its lead interior designer behind the interior design of some of its most popular vehicles, like Model 3 and Model Y.

Skyryse, a startup building next-gen helicopters, announced today that it poached Peter Blades from Tesla.

Blades had been at Tesla for almost a decade, and he was a big influence on Tesla’s interior design over that period of time.

He was the principal design lead on the Model 3’s interior design. He was the creative design lead for both the Tesla Semi and next-gen Roadster interior design.

More recently, he led the interior design for the Model Y.

Today, Skyryse announced that Blades will become VP of Design at the company:

Peter Blades, the lead interior designer for both generations of the Model 3, Model Y, Semi concept, and Roadster (2017), has joined Skyryse as VP of Design.

Blades commented:

“Joining Skyryse is a fantastic opportunity. To again have the chance to match this type of transformative technology with a fresh and new perspective on design is an amazing and humbling opportunity.”

Before joining Tesla, Blades worked at Nissan and GM, where he worked on designs for the Camaro, Impala, and C7 Corvette.

Electrek’s Take

Tesla’s interior is polarizing. I personally love it, but I know it’s not for everyone. It looks like Blades was an important part of that, so I congratulate him for his contribution.

He appears to be a loss for Tesla, but to be fair, Tesla has a fairly deep bench when it comes to designers.

The company has developed a good reputation on that front – led by Franz von Holzhausen. It also helps that Tesla focuses only on actual products to bring to production, while designers at other automakers often work on products that will never make it to the market.