Interview with David Flores Loredo

David Flores Loredo ("DFL") interviewed on Sunday, 18 March.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

DFL : I'm Mechanical Engineer and Industrial Designer since eight years ago. I have been working as Designer in the SEAT Design Center in the Interior Design Team for some time and as Mechanical Engineer from seven years ago at DF in the design of huge Handling machines. Actually I combine that Engineering work with Freelance Design services.

How did you become a designer?

DFL : I have always wanted to be engineer and designer because it was my passion. I have been drawing and creating machines, vehicles and products since I was a child, so my dream was to design and build them proffesionally and it made me study Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Automotive Design to learn the necessary skills to be able to do it. I have always loved to think creatively, sketch my ideas on blank papers and develop them in 3D to finally transform them into real and beautiful working objects. I feel that I haven't choose to be a Designer, it has choosen me and I have

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

DFL : My own style could be resumed in a combination of the Organic and the Streamline design philosophies. It results in a futuristic, dynamic and elegant conception of design, with a clean and three-dimensional surface language and interweaved volumes with a sense of flow and speed. I start to create my concepts with sketchs on a blank paper and then I develop them three-dimensionally through Solidworks or Alias Surface Modelling.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

DFL : The design process is fascinating to me. I feel concentrated and in creative flow during many phases of it. I find the initial sketch phase particularly exciting, where you can (and should) let your imagination fly and create unique concepts in a world where you can allow yourself to break the stablished rules. It is here, in this fantastic process of abstraction, where magic appears and where the forms and lines that shape the future are born. Then comes the phase of filtering the right ideas and taking them to a realistic plane through 3D modeling. This stage is also very exciting, but it is harder because you have to deal with the real limitations. The worst phase, due to its aridity, is the development of detailed manufacturing engineering. Finally, I also find the render phase really beautiful, since you can feel your design in three dimensions and enjoy it in all its splendor with different brightness, colors and textures.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

DFL : I think all designers should be observant and very sensitive to the beauty of the things that surround them. Everything that surrounds us is giving us continuously the answers and the keys of what is beautiful and what is not. You just have to look at it carefully and ask yourself questions in order to get those answers. I also believe that every designer must be passionate about creation, since that essential motivation will be his prize and his motor throughout his life. For me, there is no greater satisfaction than creating an object from a blank paper and being able to feel it in my hand, knowing that it will make many people happy and that it has been a small step forward in the creation of a more beautiful and better world.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

DFL : My future plans are to create my own multidisciplinary design studio and develop innovative and futuristic projects that make a real contribution to the world of tomorrow. I would like to be remembered as a designer who defied established rules and created really beautiful and innovative products and vehicles which were considered masterpieces along time. I have many outstanding and very interesting projects and I am determined to carry them out.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

DFL : Follow your passion. Do not ask anyone for permission, just get down to work and develop all the projects you have in mind, without expecting benefit in return, simply for the pleasure of having created something wonderful. Be tenacious and persevere, remembering that good design must be enjoyed and suffered. If not, there is no glory. Go ahead!

You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?

DFL : I would suggest them to search the beauty in shapes. I believe that the world of tomorrow must be beautiful as much as possible and that everything that surrounds us contributes to this. Sometimes, during the design process, due to many different factors such as economic reasons, strange design philosophies, unexpected technical limitations or simply bad taste, the beauty of the final product is lost and for me this is not acceptable. The world of tomorrow needs beauty and there is no greater satisfaction than having created it yourself. It's in our hands.

What is your day to day look like?

DFL : Wake up and try to design the best machines and products on my hand!

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

DFL : Yes, I try to be updated with the latest design trends in different kind of design worlds, like interiors, automotive or product design. This makes me immerse myself in the style and forms used in the most advanced projects and be aware and sensitive to the moment in which we live, of the flavor of our time. I especially find my inspiration in automotive design, where I enjoy and continually analyze the surface language and the most beautiful resources used in the latest releases. However, when I make my designs I use my own style and my own interpretation of beauty, abstracting enough of current trends and using them only to know the position of my product in innovation and futurism with respect to others.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

DFL : First of all, a good design must have a nice combination between beauty and usability. It must be a pleasure for the eye and a pleasure to use. If not, something has failed. But behind this there are many factors that might seem invisible, but which are also really important for the survival of the design itself, such as being easily manufactured at reasonable cost.

How do you decide if your design is ready?

DFL : A design is ready when you have achieved the beautiful shape that you initially wanted in a fully functional object ready to be manufactured tomorrow at reasonable price with the available manufacturing technologies.

What is your biggest design work?

DFL : My biggest design work is the Eagle Electric Guitar. The Eagle presents a lightweight, futuristic and sculptural design with a completely new design language, inspired by the Streamline and the Organic design philosophies. I wanted to achieve the most beautiful and lightweight guitar that I could realize. In this creative process I didn’t wanted to do the same that I had seen before, because I had the feeling that something more advanced, more attractive and completely new could be done. With that feeling in mind I started to push the stablished limits with new ideas, shapes and volumes, with the objective of develop a futurist design but at the same time elegant and enough conservative to be understood as an electric guitar at first saw, without trespassing the “Most Advanced Yet Acceptable” line. I'm very proud with the final result.

Who is your favourite designer?

DFL : Raymond Loewy

Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?

DFL : I live in Gijón, a beautiful medium city in the north coast of Spain. Anyway, my own style has been highly influenced by the mediterranean, creative and avant-garde style of Barcelona, where I lived when I was coursing the Master of Automotive Design and working at the SEAT Design Center.

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

DFL : I think that it is very easy to work with me. I'm quite optimist and passionate of my job, so I'm always open to many different challenges. Preferably I work alone in order to feel free to project my own design style on the product, but I also enjoy a lot working on a team with other engineers and designers.

What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?

DFL : I work for free with the students of the University of Oviedo giving them courses on vehicle design. For me it is a very rewarding experience and I love seeing the interest and enthusiasm they convey. They tell me they love it and they are always grateful to me

What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?

DFL : The A Design Award has been a great experience for me. They have valued the design of the Eagle Electric Guitar very positively, which has been a great boost for both the design and for me as a designer. Thanks to this, the guitar has appeared in numerous world publications and the work has been widely recognized. As if that were not enough, the Gala on Lake Como has been simply wonderful.

David Flores Loredo Profile