This week we’re on a design ride, stopping in China and in Denmark, in material laboratories and at sensitive expressions of contemporary design. It’s all in how materials, surfaces, textures, and gestures are cohering in today’s and tomorrow’s cabins.
The screen wars – size and count – are increasingly looking like something of a flash in the pan. Whether and when that fizzles out, aspects like fiber, textile, grain, light on a surface, and in the ability of a material to create credible emotion are surely more enduring. Natural materials, bio-based composites, and more sensitive surfaces are becoming tools of character. Material must enter the brief earlier, at the same level as architecture, ergonomics, and brand identity.
This is where design regains its role: to choose, to prioritise, to give meaning. Good material creates an atmosphere, builds trust, stands the test of time, and tells a story without needing a brochure. Automotive interiores will be defined not so much by a checklist of embedded technology, but by the ability to make the experience more tactile and more human.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please contact Emilie Bonnet or Laurent Sérézat.
Take care,
