Frank’s Imaginative and prescient – Supercar Driver
10 min read
Legendary industrial designer Frank Stephenson talks about his historical past with the world’s prime automobile producers and his more moderen ventures in modern design.
Written by: Zheran Chen
Frank Stephenson has his imaginative and prescient. Together with his identify to designs from the long-lasting New MINI to the thrilling McLaren P1, at 62, he’s nonetheless captivated with design and inquisitive about all issues pure. He has risen to turn into one of the crucial influential automotive designers over the previous three many years.
Frank Stephenson sketches on a regular basis, it’s virtually a convention for him to choose 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 into one thing really exceptional.
Frank lives in a wonderful, quiet nation home in England and can also be the design director of a studio in London that bears his personal identify. Some would say it’s virtually onerous 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 all the things: 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 stunning 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 certain to be a product with which Frank has some kind of involvement.
He was born in Casablanca, the identical place the place Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman shone on the large 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 yr 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 knowledgeable motocross rider. First, he gained the Junior Championship in Spain and started racing within the Nationwide Sequence.
However when he turned 22, his father instructed 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 need to be executed at 30, I wanted to seek out one thing else I used to be higher at”.
When Frank first heard in regards to the Artwork Heart Faculty of Design (ACCD) in Pasadena, California, he instantly determined it was the place he wished to go. “A college devoted to automotive design; I utilized with out hesitation”, Frank considers his school years to be probably the most memorable regardless of the each day pressures.
“I’ve misplaced observe of what number of nights I’ve stayed up, it’s simply so onerous. You’ll at all times suppose you might be gifted, however there are such a lot of gifted folks there, so I’ve a whole lot of respect for my classmates.
I feel I discovered extra from my classmates than I did from my academics”.
Frank is just not exaggerating, there have been 30 younger college students enrolled with him in 1983, whereas solely six graduated in 1986. Frank was provided a Ford scholarship throughout his sophomore yr at ACCD, which finally turned 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 amazing 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 large was contemplating an unprecedented enlargement with new additions corresponding 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 not too long ago acquired Land Rover in six weeks. From the present viewpoint, it’s virtually inconceivable.
“Time is simply too brief, you possibly can’t make a full-size prototype from scratch in six weeks, not less than not in Germany, as a result of we have now to work time beyond regulation on weekends and the union gained’t enable that”, Frank stated, “So my design boss despatched us to Turin, the place there are a variety of studios who can flip design sketches into clay fashions in a really brief time and can work continuous every single day”.
With dedication, expertise and a few all-nighters, Frank bought the job executed. “It turned the X5”, Frank says proudly, “It laid the foundations for the design language of the long run BMW SUV, or SAV, Sports activities Exercise Automobile”.
It’s the MINI that basically pushed Frank to the top of design, alongside different legendary designers of all time. Recreating an icon is just not a straightforward process, such strain could be an excessive amount of for many individuals. However not for Frank. “Truthfully? I wasn’t burdened 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 seem like the previous one from 1959, so your work ended up being your interpretation of the ‘MINI of the twenty first century’. As a substitute of beginning right away 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 appeared like, primarily based on the know-how and tradition of the time? Then within the second week, I designed the 1979 mannequin, within the third week the 1989 mannequin 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 wonderful and dandy, however Ferrari is up there. Ferrari hires new design director, quits after two months, I don’t need to be that man”, Frank stated. Fortunately, he had sufficient ammunition in his armoury, and never solely did he resist the strain 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 mannequin to outlive, and his Fiat 500 turned one other prompt hit.
In 2008, McLaren discovered it more and more tough to run an F1 workforce, and and not using a highway automobile, they’d 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 muse 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.
Over time, this unbiased design firm has carved out reality-changing options with world-class dynamic expertise and purchasers 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 setting. With the assistance of digital actuality, autonomous driving and mobility, Frank Stephenson Design is shaping the long run
of industries.
“I like designing supercars, however on the finish of the day, solely a small share of individuals even have entry to them. By Frank Stephenson Design, I not have constraints and am in a position to higher use my creativeness in order that extra folks 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 a wide range of merchandise to make folks stay higher along with his design and new applied sciences, corresponding to Atmo, a climate forecasting supercomputer with a modern, metallic form and a spatial processing energy of 500Km²
per minute.
Atmo builds AI-enabled {hardware} and software program programs that remedy climate prediction for any metropolis, state, or nation. Mixed with Numerical Climate Prediction methods (NWP) and Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), Atmo creates a next-generation structure for climate forecasting. It appears to be like like an outside sculpture however has the power to foretell the climate for 4 billion folks and 180 international locations, 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 onerous to create a robust model by providing an completely new expertise and absolutely the highest commonplace of merchandise. Certainly one of their newest tasks 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 bunch of kids’s lives all over the world.
“We achieved security for BabyArk seats primarily utilizing the know-how known as military-grade spiral know-how. That know-how permits us to soak up power in a means that no different seat to this point has ever executed”, Frank added, “My inspiration at all times 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 at all times have nature in my thoughts after I design”, Frank stated, “Nature’s creations have gone by means of a whole bunch of hundreds of years of evolution and are nonetheless round, and therein lies the great thing about perfected design”.
Take Lilium’s eVOTL Jet for instance, one in all Frank Stephenson Design’s newest tasks. 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 best way 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 automobile”.
“It additionally has the class and the circulation of a manta ray”, Frank added, “Why not use that because the inspiration for the rear wing and rear fuselage construction? If you see it, and we’ve developed it lots additional than what folks 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 vehicles 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 vehicles since 2011.
Frank has not too long ago sketched a by no means heard of hypercar from the yr 2030. “Will probably 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 power 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 taking place”, 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 also be planning to construct the Frank Stephenson Automobile Exploration Centre within the Metaverse. Watch this house!
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 obtained by totally different generations in numerous international locations, 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 means of making designs which at all times endure the check of time.
