Sometimes it doesn’t take much for chance to cause a fairly big change and push you onto a new path. A path where your talents make it possible to excel in a new direction, ending up in a place where education, aptitudes, interests and expertise come together. A colleague’s comment on Catharina’s ability to notice the slightest nuance in colours became her push.
This seemingly insignificant incident with significant consequences happened to Catharina Elling Rücker when she was working with electrics at Volvo. She was standing by a light cabinet with her colleague who was checking colour samples. Catharina’s input made such an impact that her time as an electrical specialist at Volvo came to a rapid end. She continued working at Volvo Trucks as a consultant, but now as a surface materials specialist.
Surface materials have been Catharina’s area of expertise for over ten years. Today she is part of a small, specialised group which, together with suppliers, develops and produces all the materials you see in a Volvo truck. This includes textiles, colours, plastics, patterns and much more. They ensure that everything looks good, but also that it is scratch-resistant, durable and in a nuance which harmonises with the vehicle’s other details.
“Together with the design department, we develop the materials so that they will hold up well and look nice but also meet all legal and fire safety requirements and are as sustainable and recyclable as possible. I find this great fun,” says Catharina.
Even though Catharina has spent almost her entire professional life in the automotive industry, she is not really a car person. A Volvo V70 stands in the driveway and watches her speed off on her bicycle to work, to friends, to activities, yes, she goes everywhere by bike.
“I’m the kind of person who cycles everywhere. I’ve done it all my life. Cycle, cycle, cycle. But I enjoy working in and learning from the automotive industry, because the knowledge of materials and aesthetics can be applied to so many different fields,” she says.
Her many years in the industry have given her unique skills and experience which are now proving useful as she takes the lead in launching Sigma Studios, a new division within Sigma Industry West. A company that will focus on CMF (Colour, Material, Finish) and UX, for the automotive industry but also for other industries and companies in need of expertise that makes their materials unique, aesthetic, durable and sustainable. The initiative and idea came from Henrik Draxl, whose focus is UX in all its forms. And it will be Catharina and her colleague Elin who will handle colour, materials and surfaces within this subsidiary.
“We’re going to bring in lots of great people who share our interests. Of course, there’ll be a group of engineers, but also designers. Everyone will be available for hire in the same way as I am now, but above all we want to be able to take on entire assignments, turnkey solutions, from more industries and not just the automotive sector,” Catharina explains.
The plans for Sigma Studios are to build a materials testing lab, recruit specialists and then start building the brand. And Catharina’s vision is clear: she wants them to become known as experts in certified, recyclable materials. To be at the forefront in developing circular material solutions that can be fully recycled and reused. And to help clients create systems that make it easy for them and their companies to take responsibility for the entire life cycle of their products.
“My biggest goal is to help make sustainable materials the norm and to get more people to see the benefits, even initial production costs are higher,” she says about her vision for the new venture.
It’s a venture she will run parallel with her role at Volvo Trucks. But the double workload does not seem to discourage her, rather the opposite. Perhaps because Catharina appears to have a good balance between work and private life, where leisure brings both energy and recovery. Even though much of her time currently revolves around picking up and dropping off children at various activities, she does manage to squeeze in the occasional game of padel.
“I enjoy the garden, and I like repainting at home, things like the kitchen, walls and so on. I also enjoy doing crafts with my children. We do a lot of bead art. But I mostly prefer to craft on my own, because my level of ambition is a little higher than the children’s,” Catharina says with a laugh.
My biggest goal is to help make sustainable materials the norm.
– Catharina Elling Rücker
In addition to the garden, the family also has an allotment where she tries to grow tomatoes every year, but without much success. However, they do harvest potatoes and asparagus, which adds a sparkle to their cooking. Then there’s the summer house just outside Grebbestad in Bohuslän. It’s a place where Catharina and her family love to spend time. It’s only 300 metres from the sea, and they have a small motorboat which is often used for lobster and mackerel fishing.
“Going out lobster fishing in early autumn is just magical, and we love doing that together. I also really enjoy spending time with my friends, having them nearby and doing different activities together,” Catharina continues.
When Catharina looks ahead, she sees the opportunity to build something different from the traditional consultancy firm. Her vision is not about being the biggest or doing what everyone else does. It’s about creating a place where the engineer’s knowledge of materials has as much weight as the designer’s sense of form, where materials are not only visualised but actually developed.
“There are plenty of consultancies working with colour, materials and finish, but most approach it from the design side. What we want to do now is something different. We’re focusing on material development itself, from an engineering perspective. And at present, there are hardly any competitors who can offer the same,” she says.
The dream is to develop sustainable materials that can be used in many different industries, not just in automotive. Sigma Studios is still in its startup phase. The plan is to create testing opportunities, not a full-scale lab, but enough to take ideas far enough to make them real.
“We won’t be able to test everything, but we can take it as far as we possibly can,” she explains.
In the long term, Catharina hopes that Sigma Studios will become the obvious partner for companies wanting to work with materials that are both beautiful and sustainable, developed and certified and ready to be used. And that they will be known for their solid expertise in CMF and recognised as the company that really goes deep when it comes to surface.
