How about a design tutorial from the Lexus team in Europe that did the LF-SA showcar: Lexus Designer Walks Us Though the LF-SA Concept Creation Process « Form Trends disclaimer: not one of my favorite designs of late
OK boys & girls, time for the more serious side of design. There are endless discussions on this site regarding what makes one car 'good looking' and another not so much The documentary I am posting is about art & architecture, but the main object is 'beauty' what is it & why? it's long (60 min) but I believe the gentleman makes a coherent argument regarding his ideas about beauty, art & architecture while I don't agree with his premise that modern architecture is soulless & boring his general premise as it relates to automotive design today is pertinent to many observations i've read on FChat anyone that's up to the task of watching the video may have some personal opinions regarding 'beauty and car design A Ferrari SHOULD be beautiful IMO........what that means however is subject to interpretation, and everyone has an opinion i'm sure everyone may not be in agreement with his opinion regarding religion & beauty, but he does make his point without stepping on too many toes Why Beauty Matters > Documentary Addict as an added bonus! there's an additional documentary on how war & design are 'joined at the hip' http://documentaryaddict.com/the+genius+of+design-1944-doc.html
video of the development of the Porsche Sport Turismo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmpayR742qk&feature=youtu.be
Ital Design G. Giugiaro has resigned from his company. Not sure why, but behind the scenes, you never know. AutoNews Now: Fleet's role in Detroit 3 sales
The first one he did was good. The second one was absolutely spectacular. What he did later with the planal surfaces will forever be his special legacy though. Maybe some day his Medusa will be properly appreciated as the switch from planal to rounded forms.
I never understood the "folded paper" criticism. His angular designs had a minimalist quality that I love.
I really liked this: Italdesign Giugiaro - Parcour Is it spelled Parcour or Parkour? It seems to be spelled both ways. All the best, Andrew.
Me too. That was the period where Italian Design was making the transition from the soft sculpted forms of the '50's & '60's to the linear,planer forms. The 'folded paper' criticism was the reaction to the new direction.
I always thought he did his best early work for Alfa Romeo. This has to be one of the best even if Alfa did not build any, sticking with Zagato instead and the TZ2. The Ferrari 250 SWB Bertone II has to also be one of the best before he went to the wedge(folded paper...That name came way later). After that the original Detomaso 5000 Mangusta is on the top along with many others. On that video that you posted, he is shady about a few things. On architecture they did not abandon those building because they were modern and ugly but due to some sort of economic reason. It happens to classical architecture even more. Just look at some of downtown Detroit. It's almost a crime. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The thing about GG is his lifelong portfolio. From his earliest work to his latest, not counting his son's work, his work will stand the test of time. His responsibility for the great one-off show cars to the mass production is a testament to his legacy. Yes, I was thinking the same thing about his criticism of current architecture. As I said, I didn't agree with his premise regarding modern architecture. But I was intrigued by his thoughts on beauty and what is happening in the art world today. I can stretch and use current automotive design as well.
One Of The World's Greatest Designers Has Left The Building http://formtrends.com/giorgetto-giugiaro-resigns-from-italdesign/?utm_content=buffer88890&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer#.VZb7anhD29o
OK John, I'll take up the gauntlet, and I'll try to sidestep the comments he makes about architecture as that's a bit too close to home for me to be unbiased. Welcome to the 18th century! First, leaving aside his insistence in linking art and religion (atheistic artists arise!), I find it pretty surprising that Mr. Scruton (sp.?) actually makes a living doing this sort of thing as some of the leaps in logic he makes beggar the imagination, and I really find it difficult to take this "documentary" seriously. A few of the points I find contentious; - Creativity; originality vs "copies". Interestingly, he used Michelangelo's David to illustrate that to be a true creative expression art must be original, using awful plaster copies of the David to make his point. Perhaps he is unaware that there are two copies of the David in Firenze alone; one outside the museum in the Piazza della Signoria, and one in the Piazzale Michelangelo on a belvedere overlooking the city. Is a cast copy of Rodin's Balzac less a piece of art because it's a copy? Of course, this argument also completely disregards those art forms such as printmaking that are solely about copies. I also find it difficult to follow his reasoning that art only becomes art through craft and not as an idea in and of itself. I could argue that the "idea" is the purest expression of art, and that the execution of the idea is frequently somehow flawed in the eyes of the artist. I also find it interesting that he ends his arguments with a selection of music, which is both the closest to its ideal in the imagination of the composer before being played and always a "copy" of the work itself. Lastly, Beauty vs Utility (less is more); can't we have both? I think that great design is about fulfilling a client's brief in the best way possible and not every client shares the same parameters; and since GG seems to be in the news, I think you might agree with me that both the Panda and Canguro are "beautiful" in their expression of what was required of them. I find the whole idea that "beauty" is somehow a constant, an absurdity. I think the idea of beauty is a personal interpretation, with which many, some, or none may agree. If your area of expression is applied arts, you'll find out soon enough in the marketplace if society shares your view. If you're a painter, sculptor, musician, recognition may take somewhat longer... Ask Vincent.
You cite three of my favourite cars - I always loved the Canguro and the little details like the air vents in the quadrifoglio, and I consider the second Bertone 250 to be the most beautiful car ever built. There's two Belluccis for you John!
Well done sir! You get an A for that post.And I don't give A's out to just anyone. I'm glad you found issues with his premise. As I said, I didn't follow his argument regarding architecture, but his idea that current art since say Marcel Duchamp's urinal has always had me asking the same questions regarding what is art and what defines beauty. My thoughts usually lead to automotive design and how people react to various designs. In my conversations with several of my intellectual designer friends (yes I know, intellectual & car designer in the same sentence is an oxymoron!), there are always those stuck in the past with the 'classic' periods of design & versus what is happening today. Having spent my entire adult life pondering the mysteries of design, beauty and art, I know less now than when I began my career. But I certainly agree with you that beauty in and of itself is a personal issue that is made up of our personal histories, our upbringing, cultural influences, frame of references, etc. I also believe that as automotive design has become 'democratized' and is truly global, there are certain solutions that have universal appeal. I get asked the question often as to why there are no more 'national design' differences as there used to be. A French car looked French. A German car looked German, Italian cars looked Italian,etc. The Net has erased many of those regional design differences. Every designer no matter where, has access in real time to what is happening design wise anywhere around the world. This has had an enormous impact on trends. I see it in the classroom, where the students troll the Net and can see what every design school and every design student is doing around the world. There are Asians designing Italian cars & Italians designing Asian cars. And yes, I do agree the Panda & Canguro are both beautiful to my eye. Not sure about the general public though. Will the Panda ever be on the lawn at Pebble Beach for it's aesrhetic's? Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, thanks for your thoughtful comments. Just keeps the controversy going
I think we've talked in the past about the personal inputs that are influential in generating a "national design" language. And while I agree that there has been a confluence of ideas that has brought a higher degree of automotive design homogeneity, I think (hope?) that this may just be part of a transitional adjustment to the available technology, and that the design pendulum may well swing back to designs that are more reflective culturally. The current situation developing in the E.U. certainly suggests that nationalism is on the rise. If this trend continues, will it be reflected in design? I believe the industry is facing some enormous changes to their business models in the next 5-8 years. Some of the issues were touched on during your last Autoline appearance, such as the effects of car-sharing and self-driving cars on sales volumes and product typology, but I believe there's a range of other technologies like advances in materials and 3-D printing that are going to force profound changes on the industry. I look at the work that people like Gordon Murray is doing and it's not difficult to imagine the ability to produce relatively inexpensive, low volume, "bespoke" autos that are likely to be "more" British, French, or Italian as they can have a smaller target market. Remember the Nissan S-cargo, Figaro, et al? I've lived in Italy (and have family there), spent quite a lot of time in the U.K., and love France, and there's still a vast gap in how each define Style and Design. In an age when even the worst cars are very good, the main differentiator will be design, and I believe that each market will again return to the cultural "keys" with which they are most comfortable. The again, I could be completely wrong...
No, I don't believe you're wrong. The thing I wonder about is the 'musical chairs' that's being played in the design departments around the globe. Up until the '90's, designers pretty much worked at one company their whole career. H. Earl & B. Mitchell even went so far as having an unwritten policy of not hiring any designer that had previously worked for another company. That has all changed, and now designers are like nomads jumping from one company to another, with little regard for country of origin. So it will be up to the respective car companies to consciously drive a design vocabulary unique to their home country. This of course flies in the face of a 'one global product' strategy. Funny how the Japanese used to have their own quirky design language, but as time wore on it all got homogenized to now it's beginning to be difficult to tell country of origin with many vehicles. But yet, last night, we were coming out of a local restaurant and the valet had parked a new Lexus NX SUV in the front of the restaurant. And I was speechless with the appearance. All I could think was 'and they thought the Aztec was extreme???' The target market for the Lexus has to be upscale females, and I was left wondering, do they really respond to such an aggressive front end? All these suburban housewives are looking for something that OTT?Seriously? I'm confident they'll sell well........but I just can't get past the looks Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
It's funny you should mention how the Japanese used to have their own quirky design language. I've often puzzled lately over why they've lost their confidence. Perhaps it's just a result of the rapid aging taking place there, but it's not just the designs that have suffered, but the technical joie de vivre (Japanese translation escapes me...). Honda in particular used to build cars that were great fun; what happened?! Drifting back to Europe, I think there is still a feeling of the countries in many of the cars that they build. I would broadly define each by saying I find the Italians live "con brio", the French for fashion, the Brits (ah the Brits) function first, and the Germans "vorsprung technik". It's easy to say there's not the variety that there used to be, but could the "Twizzy" have been anything but French?
As John will regularly note design is about what the most senior levels of management will approve. If "those people" are too afraid to lead then the result is another derivative of its prior model or what the competition did. Bob Lutz in his last book talked a lot about how when the buyer walks into the showroom they need to "want" that car and the design is the best way to sell that desire. He then goes on about how being able to tell a potential buyer that it is 95 percentile in head, leg, shoulder room, whatever will not out way that the design is uninteresting. I am not certain that any of the manufacturers have a commitment in knowing where they are going with design across the range. Probably Mercedes and BMW are closest. Cadillac does despite the rest of GM. The quirks of the Japanese of the past were, in my opinion, a result of not understanding how to properly resolve design issues. What I take to be doing now is running around in circles praying that throwing design elements together will somehow work. It is a shame since for a while in the 1980 with Calty and NDI they did some exceptional work. I guess my big point is that my belief is that the "national identity" as aesthetics has less of a future. Management fear of being different is what is homogenizing all design and until that changes we are left with only sporadic bright spots, a whole lot of blandtastic and then the other that tried too hard while being clueless.
Just watched the Autoline episode with John and David Woodhouse, head of Lincoln Design. Rather dismayed that David had the Continental Mark II design history wrong. Gregorie was long gone by the Mark II. He had already quit over George Walker being brought in. The design of the Mark II is generally credited to an ex-Packard guy (Reinhart?). DeLarossa in an interview with one of the collector magazines telling how he had been warned by his buddy Bordinat to stay well clear of that project for political reasons. Maybe that is why the car turned out so well, none of the rest of the normal culprits screwed up one of FoMoCo's finest designs ever.
Nice post... FWIW, Wiki has the designer of the Mark II as "Bill Schmidt". I don't know who he is/was, if he is indeed the designer.
Nice post... FWIW, Wiki has the designer of the Mark II as "Bill Schmidt". I don't know who he is/was, if he is indeed the designer. Beautiful, beautiful car. I also like the 60's Engle Continentals.
