Legendary industrial designer Frank Stephenson talks about his historical past with the world’s high automobile producers and his more moderen ventures in modern design.
Written by: Zheran Chen
Frank Stephenson has his imaginative and prescient. Along with his title to designs from the long-lasting New MINI to the thrilling McLaren P1, at 62, he’s nonetheless obsessed with design and interested in all issues pure. He has risen to turn out to be one of the crucial influential automotive designers over the previous three many years.
Frank Stephenson sketches on a regular basis, it’s virtually a practice for him to select up a ballpoint pen and let his creativity circulation over any floor he can discover. Even throughout this interview, Frank sketches, it didn’t take lengthy for a clear sheet of paper to turn out to be one thing really exceptional.
Frank lives in an exquisite, quiet nation home in England and can be the design director of a studio in London that bears his personal title. Some would say it’s virtually laborious to match Frank’s previous and current persona, from the illustrious design boss who ran Ferrari and formed McLaren’s future, to the frankly talking founding father of Frank Stephenson Design (no pun meant), and even YouTuber. He’s now utilizing his creativity in virtually every thing: futuristic eVTOL plane, modern child safety seats, and even a supercomputer.
However there’s a connection. For many individuals, Frank’s work has been in contact with their lives for a few years, whether or not it was love at first sight for the beautiful Fiat 500, the sheer pleasure of driving a MINI by means of the countryside, and even the surreal feeling of seeing a McLaren P1 for the primary time. In the present day, wherever you go, there’s sure to be a product with which Frank has some form of involvement.
He was born in Casablanca, the identical place the place Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman shone on the massive display screen. Camels, fragrances and the colourful but romantic tradition of Morocco influenced Frank’s upbringing in some ways earlier than the household launched into a sequence of strikes, first to Turkey after which to Spain, diversifying his understanding of various cultures.
It was within the 12 months he completed highschool that his life took its first flip, which, surprisingly, had nothing to do with automobile design. Anybody who has come into shut contact with Frank will discover his muscular construct, which comes from years of motocross racing in his early days. Sure, he was an expert motocross rider. First, he gained the Junior Championship in Spain and started racing within the Nationwide Sequence.
However when he turned 22, his father advised him to seek out one thing else to do for a dwelling. “It was unhappy to finish it, however my father had a degree. I used to be good however not successful, there’s an enormous distinction between being good and successful. I didn’t wish to be performed at 30, I wanted to seek out one thing else I used to be higher at”.
When Frank first heard concerning the Artwork Heart Faculty of Design (ACCD) in Pasadena, California, he instantly determined it was the place he needed to go. “A faculty devoted to automotive design; I utilized with out hesitation”, Frank considers his faculty years to be essentially the most memorable regardless of the every day pressures.
“I’ve misplaced monitor of what number of nights I’ve stayed up, it’s simply so laborious. You’ll all the time assume you might be gifted, however there are such a lot of gifted individuals there, so I’ve numerous respect for my classmates.
I feel I discovered extra from my classmates than I did from my lecturers”.
Frank just isn’t exaggerating, there have been 30 younger college students enrolled with him in 1983, whereas solely six graduated in 1986. Frank was supplied a Ford scholarship throughout his sophomore 12 months at ACCD, which ultimately grew to become a job alternative.
He selected to work for Ford Europe in Cologne to be close to his household, and what was his first job at Ford? Designing the wheels of the brand new Sierra!
BMW was his subsequent goal. In July 1991 he took his portfolio to Munich they usually employed him on the spot. It was an important transformation time for BMW, which had a lot potential for a younger designer like Frank.
A line-up of solely 3, 5, 7 and eight Sequence was not sufficient for BMW’s ambitions. Since their acquisition of the Rover Group, the German big was contemplating an unprecedented growth with new additions equivalent to Land Rover, MINI, Triumph and Wolseley.
Frank’s supervisor on the time requested him to current an off-roader prototype utilizing the know-how of the lately acquired Land Rover in six weeks. From the present viewpoint, it’s virtually unattainable.
“Time is simply too brief, you possibly can’t make a full-size prototype from scratch in six weeks, a minimum of not in Germany, as a result of we’ve got to work extra time on weekends and the union gained’t permit that”, Frank mentioned, “So my design boss despatched us to Turin, the place there are a selection of studios who can flip design sketches into clay fashions in a really brief time and can work continuous each day”.
With willpower, expertise and a few all-nighters, Frank bought the job performed. “It grew to become the X5”, Frank says proudly, “It laid the foundations for the design language of the longer term BMW SUV, or SAV, Sports activities Exercise Car”.
It’s the MINI that basically pushed Frank to the top of design, alongside different legendary designers of all time. Recreating an icon just isn’t a simple activity, such stress can be an excessive amount of for many individuals. However not for Frank. “Actually? I wasn’t confused in any respect”, says Frank, “as a result of there have been 15 proposals from designers and I didn’t realise I’d find yourself successful the bid”.
Like the unique Mini, the brand new MINI is taken into account to be a contemporary icon. “BMW didn’t place any restrictions on the design on the time, it didn’t say that the brand new MINI needed to appear like the outdated one from 1959, so your work ended up being your interpretation of the ‘MINI of the twenty first century’. As a substitute of beginning immediately with the 1999 MINI, I designed a automobile that by no means existed, the 1969 MINI. If the MINI was to be revamped in a 1969 facelift, what would it not have seemed like, based mostly on the know-how and tradition of the time? Then within the second week, I designed the 1979 model, within the third week the 1989 model and within the final week I designed the brand new 1999 MINI”.
The success of the X5 and MINI naturally led many to imagine that Frank would rise by means of the ranks of the BMW Group, till issues modified sooner or later with a telephone name. It was from Italy, and the job was the Director of Design for Ferrari and Maserati.
“Ford and BMW are all nice and dandy, however Ferrari is up there. Ferrari hires new design director, quits after two months, I don’t wish to be that man”, Frank mentioned. Fortunately, he had sufficient ammunition in his armoury, and never solely did he resist the stress of the function, he additionally designed a number of legendary fashions, such because the F430, FXX and Maserati MC12.
4 years later, he was seen because the lifeline of Fiat, the struggling Italian firm that wanted a brand new model to outlive, and his Fiat 500 grew to become one other on the spot hit.
In 2008, McLaren discovered it more and more tough to run an F1 crew, and with no street automobile, they might quickly not be capable of maintain their operation. Frank joined McLaren in 2008 because the Design Director. Then got here the 12C and P1, the inspiration of Ron Dennis’ well-known three-pillar technique — an entry-level 911 contender, a Ferrari competitor, and a McLaren hypercar. The P1 is a milestone not just for McLaren, however for all hybrid hypercars by way of design, aesthetics and engineering.
Frank left McLaren in 2017 and arrange his personal Frank Stephenson Design studio in 2018.
Through the years, this unbiased design firm has carved out reality-changing options with world-class dynamic expertise and shoppers from all over the world.
As with Frank’s earlier work, FSD’s design philosophy emphasises using innovation by means of the fusion of artwork and science, utilizing the most recent know-how whereas caring for the surroundings. With the assistance of digital actuality, autonomous driving and mobility, Frank Stephenson Design is shaping the longer term
of industries.
“I really like designing supercars, however on the finish of the day, solely a small proportion of individuals even have entry to them. Via Frank Stephenson Design, I not have constraints and am in a position to higher use my creativeness in order that extra individuals could make their lives higher by means of improved designs”.
Within the final 5 years, Frank’s creativity has not been restricted and he has arrived on the golden age of his design profession. He has labored throughout totally different industries to share his imaginative and prescient by means of quite a lot of merchandise to make individuals stay higher together with his design and new applied sciences, equivalent to Atmo, a climate forecasting supercomputer with a glossy, metallic form and a spatial processing energy of 500Km²
per minute.
Atmo builds AI-enabled {hardware} and software program methods that remedy climate prediction for any metropolis, state, or nation. Mixed with Numerical Climate Prediction strategies (NWP) and Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), Atmo creates a next-generation structure for climate forecasting. It seems like an out of doors sculpture however has the flexibility to foretell the climate for 4 billion individuals and 180 nations, can function wherever from -30°C to 45°C and doesn’t require a knowledge centre, or perhaps a roof, to offer forecasts.
Frank Stephenson Design is working laborious to create a robust model by providing an totally new expertise and absolutely the highest normal of merchandise. One in every of their newest initiatives is the BabyArk, the world’s most secure baby automobile seat which depends on patented, state-of-the-art know-how which can doubtlessly save a whole lot of kids’s lives all over the world.
“We achieved security for BabyArk seats primarily utilizing the know-how referred to as military-grade spiral know-how. That know-how permits us to soak up vitality in a method that no different seat to date has ever performed”, Frank added, “My inspiration all the time comes from the science of biomimicry. The form of the BabyArk is just about impressed by the form of the egg, and the egg is in itself a protecting kind”.
Biomimicry stays the important thing to Frank Stephenson Design, capturing the knowledge of nature and staying related by means of innovation. “Biomimicry is my design philosophy and I all the time have nature in my thoughts once I design”, Frank mentioned, “Nature’s creations have gone by means of a whole lot of hundreds of years of evolution and are nonetheless round, and therein lies the fantastic thing about perfected design”.
Take Lilium’s eVOTL Jet for instance, one in every of Frank Stephenson Design’s newest initiatives. It’s an electrical vertical take-off and touchdown jet meant to accommodate six passengers and a pilot, and makes use of the illustration of how nature approaches the design of organisms mirrored in industrial design.
“The hammerhead shark is fairly intimidating when it’s coming towards you”, Frank says, “it’s bought these wings within the head design that makes it extremely environment friendly in turning, and the way in which its head comes again to a impartial place, that’s influenced plane and race automobile design with canards and wings on the very entrance of the car”.
“It additionally has the magnificence and the circulation of a manta ray”, Frank added, “Why not use that because the inspiration for the rear wing and rear fuselage construction? Once you see it, and we’ve developed it rather a lot additional than what individuals have seen up till now, it’ll take your breath away”. Archer Aviation from Palo Alto simply took a billion-dollar eVTOL order from United Airways.
From eVOTL plane to child seats, the creativity by no means ends, and automobiles won’t be absent from Frank’s imaginative and prescient. Frank Stephenson Design is working with Praga Vehicles, a Czech automobile firm initially established in 1907, and manufacturing race automobiles since 2011.
Frank has lately sketched a by no means heard of hypercar from the 12 months 2030. “It will likely be like nothing you’ve ever seen earlier than”, says Frank excitedly, “It’s a supercar designed with 2030 in thoughts. How will the know-how evolve? What sort of vitality ought to the automobile use and the way will aerodynamics play its half? It’s all intriguing to unveil. It’s not science fiction, it’s actually occurring”, exclaims Frank, “That’s why I like design, to place one foot within the current and one foot sooner or later”.
Speaking about placing one foot sooner or later, Frank Stephenson Design can be planning to construct the Frank Stephenson Car Exploration Centre within the Metaverse. Watch this area!
Frank’s YouTube channel has gained over 200,000 subscribers since 2020 with over 12 million views. His design tales and design evaluations are nicely acquired by totally different generations in varied nations, and have been translated in numerous languages.
On the finish of the interview, Frank was nonetheless with the ballpoint pen, sketching. It was the Praga hypercar from 2030. Ferrari, McLaren, Maserati, BMW, MINI, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and now Praga, Frank has created so many iconic merchandise, and he has a method of making designs which all the time endure the take a look at of time.
