It may look like the strangest concept vehicle ever, but the new art installation unveiled by Jaguar as part of Clerkenwell Design Week in London is, according to the company, a “vision of Jaguar's future design language.” Created by Royal College of Art students in conjunction with Jaguar Advanced Design in Whitley, Coventry, the installation was the winner out of nine entries in the Jaguar Advanced Design competition.
Rendered in what appears to be bronze-painted fiberglass, the installation does look a bit like a Jag caught in a botched blue screen effect, but it is an interesting way of stripping away the engineering from the car and leaving behind only the lines and form like a sort of substantial ghost made out of polished metal. To create it, Jaguar, the primary sponsor of Clerkenwell Design Week, went to the MA Vehicle Design and MA Textile Design Departments of the Royal College of Art, and asked for teams to produce a joint exterior and interior form study of future Jaguar design language in either a sports or luxury context.
The teams chosen consisted of students with backgrounds in vehicle and fabric design. In creating their concept, they had to take into account proportions, surfacing, line interactions and aesthetic beauty. They also had to learn to work under real-world timetables, with only two weeks to present their designs.
The winners were Royal College of Art students Ewan Gallimore and Claire Miller, who didn't get much of a chance to catch their breath after the announcement. Within three days of receiving their prize, they were working with the Jaguar Advanced Design studio on developing the installation before it went to digital modeling and final manufacturing.
"Jaguar has a long history of groundbreaking design so we knew we needed to create something truly special to catch the eye of Jaguar Advanced Design Director, Julian Thomson,” said Ewan and Claire. “We began the project by looking at light, specifically the way the light falls within the space at Clerkenwell. We thought about how our form could accentuate this light and convey volume through its use of materials and our knowledge of how these materials react with one another."
They went on to say that, "Our form relates to the Jaguar brand through its sculptural volumes, bespoke materials and visual lightness. These elements helped us to create a sculpture that aimed to display a seamless transition between interior and exterior space."
Clerkenwell Design Week runs from May 21 to 23.
Source: Jaguar