Annual Account, 2021
How did you like your Design Field Trip so far?
A year ago, Design Field Trip was a promise above all else.
A promise that this would act as the canvas onto which a large, yet detailed image of automotive design subculture was to be painted. That this would be a space where debates involve both strongly-held opinions and an appreciation of nuance and complexity. That no punches were to be pulled. And, most importantly: that Design Field Trip would be worth your while.
Myself and others have since done their utmost to honour these pledges.
Several good reasons to pay this little online haven a visit were provided by Patrick le Quément. To me, his superior writing skills turned out to be just as much of a revelation as the kind of insight not just several decades in the car design industry, but a unique intellect can provide. Patrick certainly needs no ghostwriter, so each and every time he offered to sit down and put his thoughts into words on behalf of DFT, I considered it a privilege. A privilege I gladly passed on.
Similarly, Fabio Filippini somehow found the time to write his Sketching Thoughts column, in addition to his day job and writing his first book. Always wearing his heart on his sleeve, and gifted with a profound understanding of design and creativity in any shape or form, Fabio added an unusual, revealing angle to any topic that could only ever be provided by a culturally sensitive, passionate Italian.
Rather than a designer with a talent for writing, Stéphane Geffray is a writer with a deep understanding of design and culture. This talent he put to use on behalf of his The Five Senses series, the second half of which I very much look forward to in ’22.
Others, such as Stephen Bayley, Felix Kilbertus and Niels van Roij also deserve more than honourable mention for their contributions - specifically: they deserve your attention for their insightful articles.
Alongside those articles, jack-of-all-automotive-design-trades, Martin Groschwald, not only kept on relentlessly churning out his highly-respected GESTALTEN podcast, but also organised a kind of car design conference hitherto unseen at a motor show (excuse me: mobility exhibition!), where Design Field Trip’s editor was granted his 15 minutes of fame on stage.
The topics covered over the past year were, I’d like to believe, quite varied - ranging from hipsters to gangsters, the Mercedes SL to the city of Munich and from artisan bread to post-Covid car design. This eclecticism wasn’t solely due to the rephrasing of press releases being a tedious activity, but because automotive design truly is a subculture, and hence deserves and demands to be covered accordingly.
Over the thirteen months since Design Field Trip’s promise was first made, tens of thousands have visited this place to read one of those articles. Several thousands of them have since returned. Thank you.
After so much patting on the back, I’d like to end this text and the professional part of the year 2021 by asking you not just whether we kept our promise, but what it was you liked, disliked or found missing.
Please let us know - eventually.
In the meantime, I wish you and yours a joyous end of another strange year.
