Dzmitry Samal resurrected the bygone landaulet car, which was, a fame, in the Twenties and Thirties, he transformed it into a contemporary supercar, a status symbol giving a sense of exclusivity, uniqueness and glamour. Scroll down to see more as the creator himself unfolds the mystery of his designs,
1. When and how did you discover you had a talent for automotive design?
Dzmitry: It was from middle school, when I was 12 years old. My father was working as auto-crane driver and I used to drawing his vehicle all the time. Then I start to participate in contests of car design in my country. It was quite successful, I was always through finalists. And then I was enrolled in Art courses to improve my drawing skills.
2. Who were the inspirations for your career?
Dzmitry: Well, it is hard to say, many successful people, and not only car designers. I regard car design as just a kind of design in general. For me, especially now, almost there isn’t differences what to design. It is can be car, chair, shoes, interior; it is just design object...
3. You have resurrected an old landaulet car of the twenties and thirties and have given it status of a contemporary supercar. So you’ve kind of been at the cutting edge of design from the beginning?
Dzmitry: Well yes, while I was studying in Belarussian National Technical University (Automobile faculty), I participated in conferences (FISITA) in Helsinki and Paris with report ‘Geometrical style in car design’, and the cars I presented there were very unusual, very avant-garde.
And the beefing from Audi was to make new generation of Avant. I was thinking to make something more that Avant, to create new kind of body shape, to do something strange. I did wide research in history of Audi and in general automobile history. And have to say that Milan city influenced on me a lot. Capital of fashion, design. I visited many exhibitions, Salone de Mobile, Milano Fashion week...
4. Can you walk us through the general steps you take when you’re designing a project car?
Dzmitry: Since the topic of our work has been announced I came out with many ideas how can be Audi Avant in 15 years. Before to start designing I did the brainstorming and realized the main values of Avant in general and Avant personally for me. So there are Elegance, Luxury, Simplicity, History, Intelligence and Linearity. And the main idea was to connect Car design with Fashion.
And already after the first presentation the one proposal has been selected. The idea was to resurrect the old, almost forgiven car body Landaulet, which was popular in 20th- 30th and apply for today people’s life style. This is the specific car body which contents two zones. The first is opened, dedicated to driver, the second is luxury privacy zone designed for two VIP passengers. Inside you can spend your time with the great comfort, doing conference, watching, TV, DVD, searching the Internet.
It was hard to merge absolutory different kinds of car into the one. So firstly I discovered the S-line which stress and at the same time integrate two zones. Than this line converts into the belt line which rising up on the rear part and at the same time emphasize the privacy of second zone. I was trying to keep the shapes and the lines as clear as possible. On the first sketches we can see also that more important part is second for passengers. On the next phase of designing, in sense of Clay and 3D Alias modeling I decided a little bit to move priority and to add more sportiness. Finally we have sport luxury vehicle with driving accent which completely agrees with Audi philosophy.
5. Do you think there’s something you’re most proud of so far, one particular project that came off really well?
Dzmitry: I am proud of almost every project I have done and I am doing because I am always putting inside myself, I am trying to work as good and creative as possible.
6. Your designs are basically targeted to which international market?
Dzmitry: I would say more European, but at the same time I have got many clients from USA and Canada. Also while I was working in ‘Stile Bertone’ in team we developed many international car design projects.
7. After going through your profile I could make out that you have myriad experiences in the field of design, so here I’d like to ask, do you think you’ve brought something unique because of your wide experience?
Dzmitry: I would say yes, because as many different things you know and you are doing, widen your imagination and your way of thinking.
8. What are some of the trends that you see in the field of automotive design which could help students plan for the future?
Dzmitry: I think now there is a trend to make cars in way pensioned in cars, not in fashion or industrial design. I mean to show with design what the car is, how it works, not to cover certain elements or mechanisms (or at least to make housings transparent), to express driving quality with design...
9. What are some of the qualities you think are essential to becoming a successful car designer?
Dzmitry: First of all creativity, to generate right ideas, to be always up to date with last trends; then to be able to express, to present your ideas with pencil, computer, whatever and also very important communication skills, to speak, to discourse about your idea.
10. Where do you see yourself, after, let’s say, five years from now?
Dzmitry: Senior designer in Automobile or Industrial design company. Or even director of my own design studio (this is my dream).
11. Finally, we would like to have your thoughts on the Instablogs News Network and all its related sites. Which one is your favorite?
Dzmitry: I like all of them.
Before signing off, I’d like to thank Dzmitry for sparing out time for this fantastic interview and would like to wish him luck for all his future endeavors.
Now let’s have a look at some really cool sketches, made by Dzmitry himself:
More designs coming up your way:
