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About me
Jan Web Portrait

about_jan

Jan Hrodek    |    Czech    |    Prague    |    Male    |    33

My primary area of expertise is automotive design consultancy and polygonal modeling, my deep passion being car design history, particularly restomod movement merging traditional and modern technologies. I seek to pursue the most efficient way of execution and precise delivery, from concept to CGI. With continualy evolving design I keep on discovering new methods of approaching challenging design tasks, constantly pushing forward, accelerating and mastering the design process.

​During my time in the industry, and through many talented and inspiring people I met, I learned the crucial value of teamwork and management, taking on designing, initial modeling, work distribution and effective pipeline workflow. During the years I refined my design taste and developed modeling skills, being able to guide team members through challenging modeling tasks, up to the point of leading a modeling course for an italian design studio, integrating blender into their workflow as a powerful design tool. Very proud of the our years-long collaboration and exciting projects that followed. My responsiblity in the process is to supervise and discuss the most efficient approach, process feedback and distribute the work in order to ensure the output is a unified solid piece of quality design. In recent years my interest inclined towards the restomod movement, offering great potential and allowing to reinterpret perspective features or shapes into the modern world. I highly appretiate my experience in Zicher Team (former Superiore Design) for having the opportuinty of working on such projects and being able to work with professionals in the area of design, modeling and CGI.​ ​​ From more personal side, I am a simracing and motoring enthusiast, very keen driver appreciating any chance to get behind the wheel of varying vehicles. Excited about history of transportation and how progress and manufacturing influenced shaping of the vehicle. An F1 fan interested in modern technologies. Overlapping traditional exterior design, I am profoundly interested in the corelation between exterior and internal structure of components, powertrain, materials and technology. I appreciate AI integration into design and manufacturing, but also hand craftsmanship and using traditional crafting methods, I consider however none of those should become exclusive. My hobbies include swimming, hiking, mountain biking, skiing or go-karting.​

my_design_taste

Design itself is strongly subjective area with just a few tasks that can be objectified. In my design kodex, I prefer simple volumes that are easily read and support the external elements of the car. The design should speak straightforward message towards the observer. The sculpture of the product should immediately reveal it's character, define the powertrain/technology involved and create elegant transitions between crucial volumes, with delicate placement of the creases and shutlines. I strongly dislike purely decorative elements or unnecessary complicated surfaces or patterns, the sort of baroque archetype that distracts or removes your focus from the overall perception of the product.

/ INSPIRATION

Harley Earl, Malcolm Sayer, Marcello Gandini, Gordon Murray, Chris Bangle, Adrian Newey, Daniel Simon, Oilstainlab, Colorsponge, Alan Derosier, BoromeodeSilva

IMG_6912.jpg

I believe experience and self-improvement combined with inspiring community can boost an individual significantly more than relying purely on one's talent. Talent needs to be developed and explored. Only then we can achieve personal growth. I considered myself talented as well, however after gaining experience in the field I realised it is not the only ingredient for success. Being part of an inspiring team, where individual knowledge becomes community knowledge, paves the way for great design inspiration and transforms creation process into exciting journey for everyone involved. If we pursue a path of passion, put our efforts and hard work, success does not become a milestone, but a natural step on the way. My dream is to create or to be a part of such team or community, where initial ideation forms in time into something solid you can touch, feel, admire it's beauty while radiating unique emotions for the driver or common bystander. Only then, you know you created an icon.​​​

"Hard work beats talent."

 /cv_overview

Aufeer design logo

2017

AUFEER Design s.r.o.
Intern

2018

University of West Bohemia
MgA. title, Design

AUFEER Design s.r.o.
Designer

2019

Skoda Auto logo

ŠKODA Design
Development modeler

2020

Superiore Design
Designer / modeler

2021

Granstudio logo

GranStudio S.p.A.
Blender course leader

2022

Superiore Design
Lead modeler
Designer

GranStudio S.p.A.
3D support & workflow assistant

2023

2024

2025

Prague studio
Team leader

GranStudio S.p.A.
Designer / senior modeler
animation specialist

Zicher Team s.r.o
Prague studio

?

CV Detailed

​/ EDUCATION​

2006 - 2010

2010 - 2013

2014 - 2015

2015 - 2018

/ CERTIFICATES

2012

2015

2016

2017

/ WORK EXPERIENCE

 

2018 - 2020

2019 - 2020​

2020 - 2025

2021

2022 - 2025​

2023

2024

 

​​​​

/ DRIVER LICENCE

/ LANGUAGES

​​

/ PROGRAM SKILLS

Secondary graphic Art school in Jihlava

University of West Bohemia - Industrial design, BcA.

AFAD Bratislava - transport design

University of West Bohemia, Design, MgA.

 

AutoDesign & Styling workshop (T. Hatter, P. Stevens)

Maurizio Corbi workshop

Clay modelling workshop J. Korabečný (Porsche)

Sketching workshop with Maurizio Corbi

Certificate from Jablotron and Logic Elements

Presentation of selected designs at Škoda

International project (TH Deggendorf)

3-month internship at Aufeer s.r.o.

 

​​

Aufeer DESIGN s.r.o. - Designer / modeller

ŠKODA Design - Designer / 3D support (exterior / MMI)

Superiore Design - Designer / 3D visualisation / modeling

GranStudio S.p.A. - Course leader - automotive modeling

GranStudio S.p.A. - Designer, senior modeler

RULES ARE CHANGING - Speaker on AI in automotive

Zicher Team s.r.o. - Team lead, senior modeler / designer

​​​​

 

B, active

Czech - native

English - advanced

Italian - basic

Blender (Cycles/Eevee/Octane)

Rhinoceros 5 (Grasshopper / Octane)

Rhinoceros 7 (SubD modelling)

KeyShot

Autodesk Maya

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe InDesign

Affinity Designer

/software

Grasshopper logo
Keyshot logo
Octane Render logo
Realisation

/realisation

​​​​​​JiDU / Charger design development

JiDU Robo-1 / Interior development & Animation, GranStudio S.p.A.
 

CRRC / Subway exterior / interior design

 

SKODA FABIA Rally 2 / Eterior design development, polymodeling

SKODA - Miscelaneous Interior/Exterior modeling

 

SQUAD MOBILITY / exterior design & CGI

DRAKO DRAGON / Exterior development, GranStudio S.p.A.

 

KOMMA design support / rigging / design development

 

REEFILLA FILLEE / design support & CGI

VOLTAB Energy / design + CGI

HITACHI Landcros One

+ Other projects bound by NDA

​​​​

Area of Expertise

/area_of_expertise

DESIGN

 

​Sketching

Exterior design

Product Design

Corporate Identity

Graphic design

MODELING

Polymodeling

Animation

Rigging

Texturing & CGI

Game modeling

3D Printing

AUTOMOTIVE

Design process

Exterior Design

Technical Knowlegde

Package Assembly

Design Consultation

PERSONAL SKILLS

Project leading

Project planning

Technical execution

ai_experience

Artificial intelligence opens many opportunities and possibilities for design and development, especially in automotive industry. I found the integration of AI into the design process phase fluent and able to boost productivity and efficiency. We should not consider AI a threat, rather as a tool, considering we have inputs and outputs under our control. 

The neural networks and computational power have come a great distance to be publicly available, granting us possibilities we have today. While being a presenter on the topic on an event in Pilsen, I had the chance to familiarize myself deeper into the neural networks and machine learning to study how AI processes the user data, aids distribution, or helps to manufacture technical components.

For further information about AI in automotive industry, or integration into the design process, feel free to contact me.

Skoda Auto logo
Aufeer Design logo
Granstudio logo
Komma logo
Squad logo
CRRC logo
JiDU logo
Reefilla logo
Drako logo
Voltab logo

© 2025 Jan Hrodek. All rights reserved.

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