Jaguar UK invited THEGAYUK to the Design Museum in Kensington for an exclusive “interactive exploration of designing an electric car” before opening it to the public.
In essence it was popping into Kensington and having a nosey around the new Jaguar i-Pace in both metal and clay forms. It also gave us a chance to interact with the design teams involved.
Sam Day Photo
Before the jollies commenced with the sweat and anguish of picking up a pencil and drawing a Jaguar, I got to look close up around the clay models. I’ve only ever seen them in books and often wondered if they clay was set. The answer is no. It pretty much stay soft for most of its life. And this gave me an opportunity to have a go with the sculpturing tools. If you do see an i-Pace with a gouge in the near side rear door, that will be my work and you can thank me when you see me.
Directors of designer, Alister Whelan (interiors) and Dominic Najafi (exteriors) were on hand giving out advice as we all sat down to draw an i-Pace. It’s safe to say that the last time I sat down to draw in a school like setting was during my GCSE art and that too was the last time I also picked up a pencil to sketch.
Apparently it’s not in the wrist but the arm. Alister and Dominic were able to tell who didn’t heed their advice and drew from the wrist. I tried. It’s harder than you’d think.
Add some shade, depth in details, swoop here, swish there and you have an i-Pace. Or in my case, a Toyota Prius.
We were then asked to draw a car close to us like a first car or a dream car. I chose a Seat Terra. It’s a van based on the Seat Terra and apart from the wheels, it lacks curves so I should be OK.
Sam Day Photo
It just so happened that it wasn’t that bad. We all had to put our scribblings up on a wall and have Alister and Dominic comment and see if they could identify the car. For my effort and the only van drawn, they scored me an 8 out of 10. They guessed it as some sort of Fiat derived product and I can’t really split hairs. It pretty much was.
Sadly I wasn’t able to stay for the interaction with the panel on discussions on how new technologies, sustainable materials and changing customer desires are impacting the future of car design. Judging by the press pack that arrived after the event, it was well attended.
Motoring nurse or medical motorist? It's a difficult one. By day l nurse and by night l drive.
Fingers have always been grease deep in attending the motoring of an ageing fleet. And now l write about new and old.
If you have a car or motoring product you would like reviewed here for TGUK please e mail me:
stuart.bird@thegayuk.com
Member of the Southern Group of Motoring Writers. (SGMW)
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