Scratching the surface

Magazine Article, Source : The Manufacturer US
Zone : Design and innovation

Uros Pavasovic is brimming with fresh ideas. His latest concept celebrates the used look—in a new car. Alan Earls reports

Meet the Fiat Scratch. You can’t buy it—yet—but it’s a car that turned a lot of heads at recent auto shows. And it has won plaudits for London-based designer Uros Pavasovic.

In contrast to the sleek and sexy ethic that typifies most cars, Pavasovic’s design is rounded, comfortable, relaxed, and swathed in multiple layers of paint. But even there, Pavosovic has taken a different approach. The Fiat Scratch comes pre-equipped with scratches and quirky lights that vaguely resemble freckles. The aim is to make drivers less protective of their cars and more able to lighten up and behave with tolerance on the road. Or, as he has said, to make the car as comfortable as a pair of old jeans.

Pavosovic’s groundbreaking designs, reflected in concepts like the Fiat Scratch, are partly a product of his education in architecture at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and his master’s degree in vehicle design from the Royal College of Art in London. But there’s more to it than that, it seems.

THE MANUFACTURER: You have a background that isn’t strictly automotive. What has that taught you, and what did that contribute to the Fiat Scratch concept?

UROS PAVASOVIC: Having a non-automotive back-

ground probably gives me a different approach to design and results that are different and maybe unusual. I think this has most of all forced me to look beyond the shapes only.

TM: Who among architects, past or present, has most influenced your design work? How about among product designers or car designers?

UP: As a child I was actually dreaming of becoming an engineer or a scientist, and my idol for many years was Nikola Tesla, a great inventor and a rival of Thomas Edison, whose inventions changed the world. During my architectural years I was mostly inspired by the more industrial design architecture of Richard Rogers or Norman Foster. In the car design field, some of the most successful and iconic designs, such as the Fiat 500 or the Mini, were actually created by engineers Dante Giacosa and Alec Issigonis—their work inspired my little Fiat. Renault and BMW design studios led by Patrick Le Quement and Chris Bangle have in recent years created the two, in my opinion, currently most distinct and recognizable car brands. In product design, James Dyson and his innovation-driven and very successful studio is something I admire.

TM: Yes, I recall the Fiat 500, and iconic is the word. How about when you look at typical automobiles from a large manufacturer today, what are your thoughts about design as it is “normally” practiced? Are there positives? Negatives? Do you miss some of the exuberance of earlier times, when vehicles did not have to conform to so many safety or environmental regulations? Or, more to the point, have cars become more about features and benefits and less about looks and style?

UP: Usually when I visit car shows, there are only a very limited number of cars that really catch my attention. This may be because I am not really a “petrol head,” but I generally feel that modern cars are somewhat fake, and that they are more about shapes than content. Looking at a modern car, for example, I am not sure if the materials are what they appear to be. It seems that car designs today are born on drawing boards as pretty sketches, whereas traditionally they were designed in workshops with hammers and from real materials.

TM: Scratch seems to almost be a case of anti-design—trying to make something that seems to have evolved or seems less intentional and scripted. Do you think this kind of concept can work in the marketplace?

UP: I believe there is a market for “scratch happy” bumpers. First, there is a great tendency for more personalized cars. There are more and more different car types to give costumers more choice. Each Fiat Scratch becomes more personalized; the longer you use it, [the more it] becomes truly unique. Also, apart from personalization, I believe the attitude of not caring about anything (like scratches on the car) is widely admired, and that’s what Fiat Scratch communicates. The best comparison to illustrate the idea is the very popular pre-worn, beat-up jeans.

TM: Is there a formal relationship between your project and Fiat?

UP: Fiat design management knew about the idea since the start of the project, while I was studying at the Royal College of Art, but they were never actively involved. One of the things on my to-do list is to contact Fiat management and present the finished car to them in the near future.

TM: Had you previously tackled any auto designs and/or are you considering anything similar in the future?

UP: My car design career is more or less independent, as I only spent one summer working in a car design studio. Apart from Fiat Scratch, I independently designed, built, and presented two other scale models [Citroen Gouttelette and Xin Lang] at the Detroit Auto Show. I also designed a one-off roadster for a private client, and following the Detroit show I was contacted by several potential clients to design one-off or low- production volume sports cars.

TM: You have grown up with modern design tools. How does this help your creative process?

UP: I personally am a fan of 3D digital modeling,

as I can quickly and accurately visualize my ideas by using software like Autodesk AliasStudio. However, drawing on paper still is the best way to develop ideas. But as soon as those ideas need to be applied to reality, packaged 3D software is an essential tool for me.

TM: At the concept stage, do you consider materials, cost, or manufacturability? In other words, when you conceive of a design, do you allow yourself to stay in an open-ended, creative mindset, or do you also try to think about how a car design such as Scratch might work with available power plants or whether it can be made affordable to drivers?

UP: I generally try to be creative within the realistic limitations. The level of “realism,” however, depends on the purpose or the message I want to communicate with the show car. For example, the previous two cars that I exhibited at the Detroit car show [Citroen Gouttelette and Xin Lang scale models] were designed around a realistic package. Especially with the Citroen, I felt that it was very important to show that its unusual architecture actually works. In this case I took into consideration everything from the rear passengers’ view to the gravity point position. With Fiat Scratch the emphasis was on its character and scratch happy bumpers, so wherever I had to compromise between the concept and the package, it was in favor of the concept.

TM: How does the concept of mass customization fit with some of your ideas about more personal and comfortable products? Should cars be even more individually differentiated than they are now? How would that help manufacturers, and, for that matter, how would society or individual consumers benefit?

UP: I believe that the market/customers/users increasingly desire more and more personalized products to express their individuality. I think this is a growing trend and there is much more to explore. New technologies such as rapid prototyping, for example, are going to allow a much greater degree of customization in future cars.

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