All articles by Robert Forrest
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Winners of the Interior Motives Design Awards 2004 announced
Oct 8, 2004 - After the second press day of the Paris Motor Show, designers made their way to Le Cab nightclub for the announcement of InteriorMotives Student Design Awards 2004 winners. Over 500 atttendees included leading automotive designers, design managers and top executives from automakers, independent designers and design ...
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Design Essay: Cars and Architecture
Other references to building architecture in car design are harder to spot, though the 2005 Bertone Villa concept is an evidently named example. The design of the Villa made big play of egress, afforded by large doors swinging upwards to give occasion to entering and leaving the vehicle. The Renault ...
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Design Essay: Cars and Architecture
Shuffling past boxes to get to the car in the morning, we seldom give too much thought to the garage beyond tidying it. But without cars there would be no garages, and rarely do we stop to consider the broader affiliation cars have with their surrounding structures. In the 1920s, ...
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Design Development: MotorStorm
Initially the designers explored many different directions, but Gahan felt some missed the raw appeal the game required. When one of the designers produced sketches showing the 'home-build' finish sought after by the creators, they were used as a benchmark for others to follow. Each designer spent a day or ...
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Design Development: MotorStorm
Since Sony introduced GranTurismo on PlayStation nearly ten years ago, games have become a useful way for auto companies to communicate their values to a younger audience, building brand loyalty before they even have a driver's license. In 2004, Toyota unveiled the MTRC concept at the Geneva Motor Show: a ...
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Show Review: Genoa Boat Show 2006
If the 56 and 115 Pershings represent different ingestions of the same themes in different price bands, Azimut impressively brings some superyacht decadence to those too impoverished to afford more than $2million or so. Another Italian brand, Azimut has been causing a stir in the boating world with their 'radical' ...
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Show Review: Genoa Boat Show 2006
First held in 1960, the Genoa Boat Show can now expect some 400,000 people to crowd the pontoons in what has become the marine equivalent of the Paris Motor Show.
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Design Essay: Lexus L-finesse - Sense and Sensuality
Founded as a loom-making company over a century ago, Toyoda then became the Toyota of today that also owns the Lexus and Daihatsu brands. Its history in manufacturing has given the world 'just in time' and 'quality circle' production strategies, models for efficiency that have been adopted the world over. ...
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Cars meet Chairs - Reciprocity in Design
Having seen what product designers were up to at Milan’s Design Week, it isn’t always that car designers get involved too. All too often one has to rely on a vehicle concept in Geneva to see what the studios have been up to. What isn’t always obvious is the extent to which car designers influence product design- and indeed vice-versa, as the Renault Zoe showed with its Ingo Maurer-inspired roof. T
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Cars meet Chairs - Reciprocity in Design
Found on eBay of all places, Emeco discovered a chair it had done over half a century ago, but of which it had no record. Following the prompt purchase of said article, Adrian von Hooydonck became involved. After studying the original, his team made the new proposal as an entry-level model for Emeco - albeit still at $750. The design is well finished in box-section anodized aluminium, with excelle
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Design Essay: Cars Meet Chairs 2007
Aside from these fleeting parallels, Zagato brought a stronger automotive flavor to Milan than some previous years. As well as presenting the GS concept at Villa D'Este, it was the first time the Italian Carrozeria opened their doors to the fair, presenting a catalogue of previous work in conjunction with ...
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Design Essay: Cars Meet Chairs 2007
Milan's Zona Tortona used to comprise of a few warehouses circling a parking lot, but this year the attractions erected for Design Week spread over the whole block. Environmental design was one of the subjects being addressed by designers here, though decorating a gas-hob to imply a cow in a ...
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Milano Design Week 2005
Hay's work, however, is considerably more resolved than most, bearing the commercial touch in its symmetry. The plastic mesh shoes and bags further display the attraction of fragmentation in line, while Via's ingot-esque furniture shows fragmentation in surface. Of particular interest note relating to this was the role that rapid-prototyping ...
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Milano Design Week 2005
Every year, hordes of designers from across Europe gather in Milan to present their work and gain inspiration for next year's. Newcomers to the event are usually surprised to realise how accurate the title is: work is not confined to just one arena, but the entire city. Good shoes are ...
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Show Review: 100% Design 2005
Contrast abound in McNicol's work, beyond the obvious contrast between the bright, reflective shards, and the dark absorption of the wall, contrasts lay between the hard and soft textures, while the soft Velcro was arranged linearly and the glass randomly. As decoration and illustration have been widely reconstructed as compositions ...
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Show Review: 100% Design 2005
London has recently hosted 100% Design, the city's response to the Milan Furniture Show that currently dominates the product design calendar. Just as the Italians have spread their show over the city, Londoners have begun to do the same, introducing 100% East in the arty East End, and using more ...
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Design Essay: Autonation
Laurens van den Acker, Global Head of Design, Mazda is another designer determining the identity of a relatively young company, and it is easy to imagine the temptation of using Japan's heritage to forge this. Instead, van den Acker states: "We will leave J-Factor to Toyota and Honda...we are Japanese ...
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Design Essay: Autonation
Two cars recently highlighted the issue of nationality in auto design: the Renault Twingo concept and the Chevrolet WTCC Ultra concept. Each brand is historically close to its respective nation, but where Renault dilutes their connection, Chevrolet is emphasising theirs.
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Design Essay: Boats and car design
The boat industry has for a long time remained stagnant, but over the past five years sales have jumped, with studios expanding as much as hull lengths as they vie for contracts in the superyacht stakes. Boatmakers like Wally show how advanced marine design has become - note that both ...
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Interview: Peter Horbury, Executive Director of Design, NA, Ford Motor Company
Horbury notably uses non-automotive metaphors in speeches, in the past commenting on reciprocity between car and furniture design using Volvo and laminated furniture as examples.