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Frank Stephenson

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For other people named Frank Stephenson, see Frank Stephenson (disambiguation).

Frank Stephenson
Frank Stephenson
Born (1959-10-03) 3 October 1959 (age 65)
Casablanca, Morocco
NationalityAmerican
Alma materArt Center College of Design
OccupationIndustrial Designer
Known forDesign work at BMW, Mini, Fiat, Ferrari and McLaren

Frank Stephenson (STEFF-en-sən;[1] born 3 October 1959) [2]is a Moroccan-born Spanish-American automobile designer who has worked for Ford, BMW, Mini, Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, and McLaren. He is best known for redesigning the Mini as the Mini Hatch.

Motor Trend magazine has called him "one of the most influential automotive designers of our time".[3][4] Stephenson has created a YouTube channel under his name, his first video series being the "How I Designed..." series in April 2020; as of March 2022, his channel has gained over 200,000 subscribers and over 12,000,000 views.

Biography

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Stephenson was born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco to a Norwegian father and a Spanish mother on 3 October 1959.[5] At the age of 11, his family moved to Istanbul, Turkey followed by two years in Madrid, Spain, where he graduated from high school. After high school, Stephenson spent six years competing professionally in motocross.[6] His passion for drawing and automobiles since his youth led him to study automotive design at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California from 1982 to 1986.

Stephenson has been the director of design for Mini, Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, and McLaren before moving on to Lilium Aviation to lead the design team creating eVTOL taxi aircraft, as well as being Design Master at Suning Intelligent Technology, a major Chinese technology company. Additionally, he is the design director of Frank Stephenson Design, his independent UK-based design studio that designs and collaborates with companies worldwide.[7] Stephenson speaks English, Italian, German, and Spanish fluently and is an international speaker on many design-related and motivational subjects.[8] He has also been listed in Debrett's People of Today since 2010.

In 2019, a film documentary about his work and career titled Chasing Perfect, produced by Lionsgate and Salon Pictures and directed by Helena Coan, was released globally.[9]

Career

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Stephenson’s design career spans several of Europe's best-known automotive companies. He began at Ford's design studio in Cologne, Germany, where he was asked to submit designs for some distinctive features on the Ford Escort RS Cosworth. While Stephen Harper "did the bulk of the design", Stephenson proposed an innovative, third functional spoiler that did not make it into production.[10][11][8] He later moved to BMW where he spent 11 years, eventually leading to an appointment as Chief Designer. His design of the new Mini Cooper, launched at the Paris Motor Show in 2000, led to the award-winning rebirth of the brand and a new generation of Mini models. In 2003, the Cooper was the first European car to win the North American Car of the Year award in 2003. Also while at BMW, Stephenson designed the first BMW SUV, the BMW X5 (E53).[12][13]

In July 2002, Stephenson was appointed the first Director of Ferrari-Maserati Concept Design and Development in Maranello and Modena, Italy. His work with this department included the design of the Maserati GranSport, Maserati MC12, Ferrari FXX, and Ferrari F430. His work with this department included the design of Pininfarina's work on the Maserati Quattroporte, Maserati GranTurismo and Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. Stephenson's success with the Ferrari and Maserati designs led to his appointment as head of Fiat, Lancia, and the Commercial Vehicle Styling Centre in Turin in 2006. He was tasked with rebuilding the struggling Fiat brand, where he directed the styling of the Punto and Bravo and translated Roberto Giolito's 2004 Fiat Trepiùno concept into the production 500, Punto and Bravo.[14] In 2007 he was made Head of Centro Stile Alfa Romeo design.

Stephenson left the Italian group in April 2008 to become Design Director at McLaren Automotive, where he created a new design language and oversaw the design of the MP4-12C, P1, 675LT, 570S and 720S.[15] While at McLaren he drew inspiration for the P1 partially from a sailfish that he saw when on holiday in Miami.[16]

Stephenson left McLaren Automotive in 2017 and was rumoured to make a return to the BMW Group to head the design team at Mini.[17] The rumours turned out to be unfounded; upon leaving McLaren, Stephenson founded his own design studio, Frank Stephenson Design Consultancy. From May 2018 to November 2019, Stephenson was head of product design at the German aviation company Lilium and Design Master of Suning Smart Technology.[18] Stephenson continues to work on many different cross-industry design projects, products and design solutions.

Cars designed/assisted by Stephenson[19]
Company Brand Model Role
Ford Ford Escort RS Cosworth Designer
BMW BMW X5 (E53)
MINI Mini Hatch
Ferrari and Maserati Ferrari F430
Maserati MC12
Ferrari FXX
Maserati GranSport
Quattroporte Assistant
GranTurismo
Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
599 Fiorano
Fiat and Lancia Fiat 500 Designer
Punto Assistant
Bravo
McLaren McLaren MP4-12C Designer
P1
675LT
570S
720S
  • Mini Hatch
    Mini Hatch
  • Maserati MC12
    Maserati MC12
  • Ferrari F430
    Ferrari F430
  • Fiat 500
    Fiat 500
  • McLaren MP4-12C
    McLaren MP4-12C
  • McLaren P1
    McLaren P1
  • McLaren 570S
    McLaren 570S

Design style

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Stephenson says that he looks everywhere for inspiration and is always sketching. He adds that just walking down the street one can find inspiration from so many things. Stephenson also says that he looks to the animal kingdom for design, adopting what's termed biomimicry for his design inspiration.[6] His stated goal is to "find the principles in nature that make organisms be successful in their environment".[20]

Stephenson's design process progresses from a sketch pad to computer graphics, then clay models, and finally to prototype models. He says the advantage of working with clay models is that you can see and feel the designed surfaces in three dimensions, embedding the product with the human touch. He credits curiosity, research, and innovation as key drivers to his design values.[6][7]

References

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  1. ^ Dron, Will (15 November 2013). "Online exclusive: Q&A with Frank Stephenson, McLaren's chief designer". Driving.co.uk. Sunday Times Driving Limited. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  2. ^ "Frank Stephenson is new head of Alfa Romeo Style - Car Body Design".
  3. ^ Noah Joseph (8 August 2008). "Frank Stephenson to direct McLaren design". autoblog. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  4. ^ Edward Loh (12 April 2011). "Frank Stephenson Gives Us His Exclusive Lowdown on the MP4-12C". Motor Trend. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  5. ^ Phil Patton (23 February 2011). "Inspired Career Leads Back to the Inspiration". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2005.
  6. ^ a b c "How to Build A Super Car". How to Build. Season 2. Episode 2. 22 November 2011. 8.30 minutes in. BBC. BBC Two. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Chasing Perfect". Netflix. Universal Pictures. Retrieved 18 January 2020.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ a b Joshua Dowling; Sydney Morning Herald (8 September 2005). "Does this guy have the best job in the world?". Drive. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  9. ^ "Chasing Perfect: The Inspirational Story of Car Designer Frank Stephenson". 27 May 2019.
  10. ^ Tahaney, Ed. "The Ford Escort RS Cosworth's Spoilers Were Inspired By a WWI Triplane". Motor Trend. Motor Trend Group. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  11. ^ Robinson, Matt. "How The Ford Escort RS Cosworth Almost Got A Triple-Decker Wing". Car Throttle. Retrieved 4 December 2022. Escort Cosworth co-designer Frank Stephenson talks about the design influence behind the car's wild rear wing, and how it was almost even more bonkers...Although Stephen Harper did the bulk of the design, the spoiler was the work of Frank Stephenson
  12. ^ "Who's Where: Frank Stephenson appointed Director of Design for Alfa Romeo". cardesignnews.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2007.
  13. ^ Paterick C. Paternie (2002). Mini. MBI Publishing Company LLC. ISBN 0-7603-1157-9.
  14. ^ "Flying taxi start-up hires designer behind modern Mini, Fiat 500". Reuters. 23 April 2018. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Frank Stephenson: The Story". frankstephenson.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  16. ^ "The car designer who turned a sailfish into a supercar". BBC. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  17. ^ "McLaren's Design Director Is Reportedly Headed Back to Mini". Road & Track. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  18. ^ "Lilium". frankstephenson.com. 3 August 2021. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  19. ^ "Frank Stephenson | The Story". Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  20. ^ "Interview with Frank Stephenson by Uygar Kilic". CarsAndLife.net. 19 January 2012. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
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