Do you know who Cher is?
This singer, who has made music history, became a star in as early as the '60s. From "I got you babe" to her most recent hits, she has become an icon of timeless beauty and audacity.
That said, she is getting older, just like us. What seems like her real last farewell tour is currently taking place and should mark the start of her retirement. I wish her a happy and peaceful one, and to stop fighting against her inevitable aging.
I wish the same thing to part of the automobile industry. Cher has confessed to a incalculable number of aesthetic surgeries, to the point of becoming a sort of endless project. She even said with self-ridicule that if there was a nuclear war someday, the only survivors would be rats and... Cher. But underneath that sparkling bodywork is hiding a aging heart, members that are wearing down and more days behind than ahead.
Certain companies in the automotive industry have the same problem.
Profession: designer
For over 10 years, I've worked in design. I was asked to conceive the look of various objects, films, video clips, TV ads, signs, restaurants, bars, etc. I can say that I'm quite sensitive to a design's virtues, its appeal, its beauty and its seduction power.
I've also learned that a design can reveal a lot of its origins, ideas and culture of what created it. A design is all but innocent. For centuries, it was the expression of aspirations, of will to display power, of wealth, of simplicity, of wisdom, and/or of craziness.
The birth of the automotive industry, a little over a century ago, coincided with an explosion in creativity in arts, concepts, ideologies, and technology. This explosion has risen from regions that we consider as cradles of design and modern art. They are what most of today's designs are inspired from.
The main regions of contemporary design
1) Scandinavia: A region of the world with a rigorous climate, vast spaces, where nature is queen, Scandinavia is the place where the famous expurgated design was born, reknown across the world, which is both simple and elegant, practical and without ostentation. It emanates from a culture marked by subtlety, by discretion, by a practical spirit and by a will of durability. This design, born at the end of the 19th century and discovered by the world in the '40s, is making a comeback since the last ten years.
Reflecting this culture, automobile brands were born such as Volvo and Saab, loyal to the Scandinavian culture in their conception.
2) Italy: The Italian design gets its origins from the diversity of its climate, from its scenery, from the Alps in the north to the Mediterranean in the south, from cities filled with beauty, history and culture. Land of passion, beauty, violence, Italian design is known as the most sensual, often the most evocative, but sometimes becomes excessive and of bad taste; too much hey-look-at-me, according to some. Italian design in architecture, music and paintings is always colourful and never bland.
In mass production however, Italian design has often proved that seduction wins over loyalty. Italian products, if we're talking about lamps, refrigerators or automobiles, are generally fragile and require more care than average.
The seduction and flamboyant look culture is easily found in Italian automobiles. Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Alfa Romeos and sometimes even little Fiats often have that flair that makes these cars objects of desire. But like Italians, they are more seductive than loyal.
This singer, who has made music history, became a star in as early as the '60s. From "I got you babe" to her most recent hits, she has become an icon of timeless beauty and audacity.
That said, she is getting older, just like us. What seems like her real last farewell tour is currently taking place and should mark the start of her retirement. I wish her a happy and peaceful one, and to stop fighting against her inevitable aging.
I wish the same thing to part of the automobile industry. Cher has confessed to a incalculable number of aesthetic surgeries, to the point of becoming a sort of endless project. She even said with self-ridicule that if there was a nuclear war someday, the only survivors would be rats and... Cher. But underneath that sparkling bodywork is hiding a aging heart, members that are wearing down and more days behind than ahead.
Certain companies in the automotive industry have the same problem.
Profession: designer
For over 10 years, I've worked in design. I was asked to conceive the look of various objects, films, video clips, TV ads, signs, restaurants, bars, etc. I can say that I'm quite sensitive to a design's virtues, its appeal, its beauty and its seduction power.
I've also learned that a design can reveal a lot of its origins, ideas and culture of what created it. A design is all but innocent. For centuries, it was the expression of aspirations, of will to display power, of wealth, of simplicity, of wisdom, and/or of craziness.
The birth of the automotive industry, a little over a century ago, coincided with an explosion in creativity in arts, concepts, ideologies, and technology. This explosion has risen from regions that we consider as cradles of design and modern art. They are what most of today's designs are inspired from.
The main regions of contemporary design
1) Scandinavia: A region of the world with a rigorous climate, vast spaces, where nature is queen, Scandinavia is the place where the famous expurgated design was born, reknown across the world, which is both simple and elegant, practical and without ostentation. It emanates from a culture marked by subtlety, by discretion, by a practical spirit and by a will of durability. This design, born at the end of the 19th century and discovered by the world in the '40s, is making a comeback since the last ten years.
Reflecting this culture, automobile brands were born such as Volvo and Saab, loyal to the Scandinavian culture in their conception.
2) Italy: The Italian design gets its origins from the diversity of its climate, from its scenery, from the Alps in the north to the Mediterranean in the south, from cities filled with beauty, history and culture. Land of passion, beauty, violence, Italian design is known as the most sensual, often the most evocative, but sometimes becomes excessive and of bad taste; too much hey-look-at-me, according to some. Italian design in architecture, music and paintings is always colourful and never bland.
In mass production however, Italian design has often proved that seduction wins over loyalty. Italian products, if we're talking about lamps, refrigerators or automobiles, are generally fragile and require more care than average.
The seduction and flamboyant look culture is easily found in Italian automobiles. Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Alfa Romeos and sometimes even little Fiats often have that flair that makes these cars objects of desire. But like Italians, they are more seductive than loyal.