The design needs to be the orchestration of brand immersion and interpretation into a relevant and appropriate form.
Design communicates what a product does and whom it is for. Interiors are the perfect place to express brand values. In contrast to designing transient ‘trendy’ objects such as mobile phones (where the latest technology, colour palette or degree of functionality indicate the next generation of a must have accessory), in vehicle design we plan about five years in advance from the first sketch to when the car rolls off the production line. Projecting current street trends when you realise they are likely to be well out of fashion by the time the car is produced, is quite a challenge. Having said this, we all do our own kind of ‘futuring’ whereby we establish guidelines that will have good design credibility and longevity. Automobiles are emotional sculptures that happen to be functional. We buy them because we love them, because we like the brand cachet or simply because we need them. They become luxury goods when we buy them for the name alone.
The bigger issue is that all designers have their own sense of aesthetic and their own interpretation of values. Being visionaries, designers like to be inspired by what surrounds them and then express it to best suit those values. A talented designer with a good gut feeling and confidence can give the right design direction for the future.
When it comes to designing the shape of an interior, I have found it best to stay clear of trends per se because ultimately we want to create something that will stand the test of time. With premium brands, that is definitely the case: a premium brand should not be trendy, but a trendsetter; timeless with exquisite execution.
I have often been asked what inspires me—certainly not sitting in my office! I get inspiration from going to a city and watching people: from going into a shoe shop that makes custom shoes and understanding how their craftsmen work, and how they choose their leathers, or else I like to look at jewellery to understand how a diamond can be suspended using stainless steel.
Often, it is the detail and the hidden knowledge that fascinate me. I have seen a jeweller’s display case lit with fibre optic crystals and used those very lights as reading lamps in the Lincoln Mk9 and Lincoln Continental show cars. I also find inspiration in nature; butterflies, orchids, birds all have the most amazing colour combinations, textures and patterns. When faced with a design challenge, I often find myself analysing solutions and solving problems mentally, while driving or while lying awake at night. No matter where I am or what I see, I can find something inspirational to absorb and apply—design for me is a way of life.
For the colour and material aspects of my work, trend is significant in justifying a colour, texture and also technology. Exterior paint colours are a perfect example of something that is evaluated based on trend futuring. Silver will always be a best seller, may be because cars are evaluated in silver dynoc (a very thin sheet of vinyl that is applied to the clay surface like skin) during their form development. It is the colour that travels the most from dark to light, showing off highlights and shadows the best, thus the ideal colour to express surface language and form.
Customers always want more choice. However, we all know what it is like to be confronted with a menu that is many pages long. When given the ‘specials’ list, we seem to be quite happy to choose from just a few selected items. The point is that they have been selected by the chef (someone whose opinion we value and trust). In much the same way, we need to give customers educated choices, that is, designer choices. We all want something that is made especially for us, unique to our personality. A suit tailored to fit perfectly will cost you more but will make you feel a million times better and more confident. Even with vehicles, we should be able to cater to some of these human whims. I have been designing vehicle interiors for the past ten years, and can identify a trend in my own approach. There needs to be a certain amount of brand immersion, followed by interpretation, and finally by a design.
Immersion is where you need to experience the brand and understand it thoroughly before you can even attempt to create the next generation of form language. This involves looking at the brand’s history. It is important to note that a designer always wants to create something fresh and exciting that no one has ever seen before, not just to arrange a bunch of historical cues onto a clean canvas. It really is about understanding the values and then innovation can be achieved through the appreciation of tradition.
Interpretation is about applying this ‘immersed’ understanding to a set of guidelines by creating a philosophy that ultimately communicates the brand values. And, finally, the design needs to be the orchestration of all of the above into a relevant and appropriate form.
The four brands I have worked with —Rolls Royce, Lincoln, Jaguar and Land Rover - all have different ways of expressing luxury. I spend a lot of my time trying to understand luxury. I love walking up and down streets, seeing how every fashion house tries to come up with the next best thing, from clothes and materials to how they are displayed. Even the architecture of a showroom tells a story and promotes the fashion trend.
Rolls Royce is the ultimate in luxury. As Sir Henry Royce said, “Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. When it doesn’t exist, design it.”
That is how we approached the design brief for the first Rolls Royce under BMW’s ownership. I was one of five designers sent to London to find a new design direction. We steeped ourselves in the city’s culture, tradition, clubs and future. It was our job to create a new identity for a brand rich in tradition with a very demanding clientele. The result was the 2003 Rolls Royce Phantom, epitomising supremacy, confidence, privacy and service in a modern execution.
Lincoln is definitely American Luxury, although the tag line has changed several times. The challenge was to give this great brand the cachet value it once had (especially in the 60s). We all know the Lincoln Continental convertible as a cool car. Especially when you start considering what Cadillac was doing at the same time with its flamboyant design. Lincoln was always understated and refined. ‘Lincoln low, Lincoln lean, Lincoln lovely’ was the tag line for the 1956 Lincoln Mark ll. But the world has moved on and so have wealthy Americans.
The first task was to get all the executives on board to understand what contemporary American Luxury is. I set about researching venues, hotels, restaurants and bars in New York and spoke to people from the luxury world of yachts, architecture and jewellery. This immersion was the benchmark for the work that happened in the following five years. We were a new design team starting from scratch. No ties, no baggage, just a blank sheet of paper and lots of inspiration. We established the design direction for the future of Lincoln—space, comfort and service in a contemporary American way.
At Jaguar and Land Rover, my role is quite different. Here the brand values are already strong and well defined. Land Rover is functional luxury or even inspired luxury, where the command driving position makes you feel you are the king of the world. But we also have to understand the incredible breadth of capability from the iconic Defender to the most complete luxury SUV, the Range Rover. We, therefore, have a brand that stretches from the extreme to the exclusive; from bold and practical to elegant and dynamic, expressed with powerful proportions and underpinned by their best-in-class off-road ability. It is about understanding the brand and moving it forward, because Land Rover really is about the ‘Spirit of Adventure’.
Jaguar is emotional luxury. It stands for irrational desire and the best way to discover this is to drive a Jaguar so you can experience beautiful, fast cars. The tagline in the 60s was ‘Pace, Space and Grace’ and that can certainly still be applied to the modern products. The challenge is to bring the brand values into the future by creating spontaneous, emotional surfaces: fluid forms with sophisticated detailing. There should also be an element of surprise and delight, an eventful experience in a clean and discreet environment, delightfully Jaguar.
As Chief Interior Designer for both Jaguar and Land Rover Advanced Design, I am responsible for future interior design strategies, with the added challenge of having two British brands that are unique in their character, yet are owned by the same company, Ford. It is an exciting portfolio of vehicles and we are developing next generation icons for each brand, such as the Jaguar XJ and the Range Rover. The design of interiors as well as the choice of materials and colours is inextricably linked. To create a compelling luxury brand vision for premium interiors, you need passion for design and strong team collaboration.
And so here we are, at the heart of the matter, which is, truly, that I have come to the conclusion that the biggest luxury of all is to provide sensory elevation. We should feel better when we get out of that luxury car than when we first got in. In fact, we should not want to get out of the car at all.
Keywords: Design, Premium Brand, Rolls Royce, Lincoln, Jaguar XJ, Land Rover Advanced Design
