Meet Christine Park, GM’s main designer for the interior of the Cadillac XTS Platinum Concept.
Here’s the interior. For the curious, here is the exterior. Here is a video of Christine explaining her interior design philosophy (something about being inspired by a lotus flower).
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GM had also utilized another Korean designer. The 2010 Chevy Camero’s chief exterior designer was Lee Sang Yup.
{ 52 comments… read them below or add one }
Wangkon, for the records, she is just one of the designers. The lead designer is her manager, Jen Kraska.
Although it’s understandable your intention – sometimes – to highlight achievements of korean descendants, I wouldn’t rate this as something that enourmous. Then, we should also highlight her team mates, like the “greek” Chris Roustemis, so the title should read “New Cadillac’s Interior Designed by a Korean (descendant) and a Greek (descendant)”
Less bias, please. I like your posts, but this one was a little off.
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I agree. When I check out The Marmot’s Hole, “Korea…in Blog Format”, I would like to see Greek coverage as well. Also, I noticed this post was followed by one about some Korean girl that was sexually assaulted at a Toronto church. I wouldn’t rate that as something that enormous, since there are sexual abuse scandals involving far larger and more important institutions such as the Catholic church going on right now. That is racist. Please cover the bigger sexual abuse scandals, and the thousands, millions of other incidents of sexual assaults that are doubtless going on right now.
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You know what I think? I think we need more excuses to put up pictures of cute Korean girls.
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Who the f*&% cares about Jen or Chris? Would you rather have two geeky guys go into excruciating detail about how they designed the cabin interior, or would you rather have uber-cutie Christine Park do it e.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz3F86eRiSs even though all she might have done was inspire the team with lurid descriptions of “lotus petals”? All I can say is that Detroit seems to have finally caught on when they realized that Korean girls do sell cars quite well…
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Roger that; WGAF?
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Wangkon#3, I have no arguments against that. I mean, if this is the purpose of this post, mission accomplished.
8675309, your last statement is humorous and appropriate, in line with WK#3.
Minjokjaja: whatever…so much hate…calm down…
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Curious, I don’t recall the Korean press (English language press that is) being all over the fact that two members of the minjok were designing for GM. Usually they are all over even the barest link to Korea and success in America.
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Wasn’t there a black fella and a honkey on the assembly line? Where’s their kudos?
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Please. She’s a 4 out of 10 with that Down Syndrome forehead. Plus she has an annoying voice.
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TK,
That’s mean. You know some of the ladies do notice a spike in traffic to a site that links to them and check out our comments section? They are genuinely hurt by some of the comments on the judgement of their looks. I exchanged emails with one such gal.
Btw… what was that bothersome sqeaking noise in the Super Bowl Hyundai commerical?..
To everyone else,
The WSJ a couple years ago highlighted to trend of more Korean designers in Detroit:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121311527578861039.html
So… I don’t believe to provide a little update on the trend is entirely not newsworthy.
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tk, #9:
LOL! It takes one to know one.
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She must have worked her ass off to reach that level of responsibility at such a young age. Way to go, Christine!
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#10
My respect for TK has gone down several notches. Words like that have consequences and one reaps what they sow. His remark was totally off-base, reveals what an arrogant, prima donna jerk he is, and probably spoiled from an early age by his mother too.
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Not really. She’s a 2006 Art Center grad. Art Center’s Transportation Design program out in Pasadena is heavily recruited by all the top auto firms internationally for the latest Wunderkinder, whom as you can imagine, are not only straight out of college with no industry experience, but are all in their early 20′s. Btw, tons of Koreans (both Korean Koreans and KAs) are either studying at Art Center or try to get in every year…
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NetKim,
It’s okay. TK “got his” so, not being burdened by the need to lie to many women to get occasionally laid like the rest of us, he only needs to lie to ONE woman now from this point forward. Thus, he can now tell all the other ladies what he really thinks…
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Well, if TK was just being honest and not intentionally cruel (bitter maybe?).
(JK JK). I couldn’t resist after NetKim and WK’s posts hehe
Sometimes, it’s a bit difficult to tell intentions just based on text.
We’ve all come across a bit off in some of our posts at one time or another and he never seemed that bad to me.
On the other hand, maybe he’s just seen too many girls with too much makeup slathered up on their faces….or woke up after the wedding night and realized what he’d gotten himself into when he didn’t recognize the bride
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My respect for you has gone up a notch, NK. Come to think of it, it’s been weeks since you cut and pasted Fred Reed, so I’ll have to move you up two notches on the MH Gyopo rankings. Now don’t do a Pawi and revert back to your bad old habits, bluejives.
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We get ranked?
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We get ranked? — Yes, and apparently traded on a lively secondary market for KAs.
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Yes, WK. The top spot is a toss-up between you and Won Joon Choe. Reading your misspellings hurts my eyes; reading his edumacated words makes me dizzy. As a tie-breaker, I propose some locker room folly pics.
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‘Now don’t do a Pawi’ sonagi
sympathy for lady frigid.
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A decent excuse to get back on a treadmill and begin losing my “winter coat.”
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I think TK is being generous. The girl is a 3 tops. Actually she reminds me a lot of a girl I went out with a couple times. She also had a somewhat longish face and wasn’t more than a 5 even with makeup. After I figured out it was going to take more effort than her level of hotness warranted to get her naked I never bothered to call her back and made up some bullshit excuse about how I’d be out of town for a while.
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Agreed. 4 is too generous. We don’t just give 4′s away around here. It’s a cute pic but the video tells the whole story.
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Pretty cool that a gal so young has already achieved a level of professional success.
But she won’t have REALLY made it until she starts posting anonymously on obscure Korean websites. I mean, really, what a total 루저!
DLB
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#17
My respect for you has gone up a notch, NK. Come to think of it, it’s been weeks since you cut and pasted Fred Reed
Thank you, Sonagi.
I’ve gotten tired of Fred Reed cause he now rants mostly about stuff that I don’t care about. I’ve moved on to another curmudgeon named Joe Bageant.
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He AND she who has never judged a woman’s appearance out loud may cast the first stone.
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Until you post some locker room folly pics, TK, you’ll stay in the cellar with Tinyflowers and Minjujuija.
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#28
There’s a very fine line between being cocky-funny and being a complete asshole. Personally I think the girl in the picture looks completely normal. She’s obviously no great beauty but she’s not unattractive either.
#23, #24
You’re being unduly critical about this girl’s looks and you both sound like a pair of bitches.
#27
He AND she who has never judged a woman’s appearance out loud may cast the first stone.
Unless you personally look like Brad Pitt or Daniel Henney or some other ridiculously good-looking mofo you ought not to be ungenerous about a woman’s appearance. And even then you ought not to do it.
#28
Until you post some locker room folly pics, TK, you’ll stay in the cellar with Tinyflowers and Minjujuija.
Call it a hunch but something tells me TK will opt to remain a mystery meat despite his opinionated self.
Sonagi, I seem to recall that you mentioned in the past that you had a pic of yourself when you were a college student wearing a bikini outside in the snow. Shortly thereafter I asked if you could post a link to that pic. If you want you can just send the link to me.
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tk #27:
Again, your great legal brain has completely missed the point. In this culture, we do not denigrate, mock, or unfavorably judge those who have conditions they have no control over. You certainly have the right to have your own opinion about someone else’s appearance, but stay away from degrading the handicapped — you might be able to get away with that kind of attack in Korea, but in this country, you’re just a dick if you do that.
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NK#29:
…you ought not to be ungenerous about a woman’s appearance. And even then you ought not to do it.
Great words, NK.
867…#30:
…but stay away from degrading the handicapped — you might be able to get away with that kind of attack in Korea, but in this country, you’re just a dick if you do that.
Not only in your country (I suppose US), but in several others. This is more than shameful, and you put that very well.
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@9
http://home.comcast.net/~speedyturkey/nothitit.jpg
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Let me drop about 20 lbs of fat and replace it with 15 lbs of muscle first. (Which would put me in my body of 4 years ago.)
I ought not to do a host of other things either, such as smoking, eating fatty food, swearing or being unkind. But I do them all anyway from time to time. And so does everyone.
I called her ugly, not handicapped. If I said she had a rhino nose, am I degrading rhinos?
No, I would be a dick in Korea too if I did the same. But I have no problem being a dick from time to time. Paraphrasing what I said earlier, let anyone who has never been a dick in his/her life cast the first stone.
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I gotta agree with TheKorean here. I thought the Marmot’s Hole was an adult playground. Yes, it’s true, that means ya’ll can talk shit about Koreans and I shouldn’t get too cranky about it. I agree!
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That girl’s a “3″?! Zero points for intelligence, self-confidence, and professional accomplishment, obviously — but what about her nice figure?
All I know is, the heck with Hef, I want to party with you guys.
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I’d rate her 7.5
That’s pretty bad, though, coming from me.
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Once a swabbie, always a swabbie.
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Party with Hef? Maybe 25 years ago, when his harem was filled with attractive ladies, not the day-glow orange trannies with water balloon sacs who adorn the old geezer and his rag these days. Will never understand the sex appeal of skanks for some men.
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For once I’m with Brendon and JW, et al.
Designer Park gets an 8.0 or 9.0 from me. And that’s after watching the video and hearing her voice. Also: intelligence is attractive.
I just hope she’s never said something stupid like, “I’m a woman and a minority, so I have two strikes against me.” She’s obviously benefited from her exotic attractiveness vis a vis her older white male bosses. The video, frankly, makes her seem like an American-style Car Show Model.
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Any port in a storm.
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Mmmm. I guess, as long as you’re the ship, not the dock.
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Is Hef on the rag these days? I thought it was just a permamnent portable drip of liquid vitamin V.
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That reminds me, why are sailors associated with being gay??? Never understood that one.
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Ohhhh, ok, they’re always out in the seas with nothing but each other to look at. Stupid me.
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Hahaha…. that’s funny Weikuboy. Can you imagine Christine from Los Angeles (she went to Pasadena Art Center) talk to these middle aged GM designers from the Mid-West about lotus or orchid flowers and how it in folds and opens up and it’s layered.. etc. etc… Must be a trip.
And it does kinda seem to make her like a Car Model with the exception that she starts off her speech with, “I’m responsible for the interior design of the Cadillac XTS.”
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“Can you imagine Christine from LA talking to these middle aged GM designers from the Mid-West about lotus or orchid flowers and how it in folds and opens up and it’s layered.. etc. etc… “
I bet I know EXACTLY what they were picturing when she was giving that presentation. [snicker snicker] But I don’t mean to demean her. (Especially if she’s reading this.) She’s done her part and worked hard and taken full advantage of the opportunities that have come her way and such a young age. And I’m serious about the 8.0 or 9.0.
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…vis a vis her older white male bosses
Her boss is a woman: Jen(nifer) Kraska, Design Manager.
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She’s only got one boss?
Damn, the new GM really HAS streamlined its executive roster. Good for them! See, socialism DOES work.
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Yeah, big-ups to Sonagi and Net-Kim. I like your comments, as it seems to powder a thin layer of warm over my misanthropic heart.
WK, was this girl you are referring to (the one with the hurt feelings) that Korean girl who is going to marry that basketball player, the one which Linkd was smitten with? If so, post her name. She’ll be pleased to see this gang pop up front page through Google all over again.
I remember Linkd. He’d write creepy passages about his inner musings about the smell of the hair of girls he’d sniff while riding the subways. He must be a good writer, though, considering that I can remember even that. That’s the power of shampooed Korean hair, apparently!
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ps: I wouldn’t mind smelling *all* the hair on Ms. Park, there. Giggity!
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…”smitten with” — referring to the girl, not to the basketball player. shoo grammar nazis!
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Mr. Alphabet man,
It was that gal who got a PhD before she was 30.
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