Episode 4 - Driven by Design: The Creative Vision Powering Aurrigo’s Innovation

Driven by Design: The Creative Vision Powering Aurrigo’s Innovation

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Take Off, a podcast where we dive into the trends and technologies in aviation,

(00:05):
automotive and automation, and of course the stories behind the people making the future of
mobility happen. So if you can tell me who you are and what you do for the company, that would be great.
Yep, so I'm Elliot Hawkins and I'm Chief Designer here at Aurrigo, formerly RDM.
So I joined the company in 2016, I've been in there a decade now.

(00:31):
Formerly, I was a company called Pretender and we were based in the same buildings over the road,
so that was like an introduction into RDM and Aurrigo. And then ever since I was a little kid,
or whatever one of them do was either be a captain of West Ham or be a car designer. So from the age

(00:52):
of maybe six, I had a very firm goal of what I wanted to do, constantly drawing cars, making
models out of like serial boxes. So my mum would always know and she'd open the serial cupboard
and order cereals just being their plastic bags because I'd have had all the cardboard out and
making cars out of them. And then so all my school career was aim to hold to that. I went and studied

(01:16):
vehicle design in Swansea University in 2007, I graduated there with a first. I then went and
gained my master's at Royal College of Art in London, that was 2009. And then virtually straight
from the RCA, I was offered a job at Pretender in Coventry, so Jan 2010, I've been in Coventry and it's

(01:37):
been like a home from home really, so originally from London, but I love it up in Coventry.
I think it's easy when you don't come from a place, you don't see all the stuff that people
go out there moan about, you just see all the good stuff. So I'm really proud that we're still in
what is the heart of British motor manufacturing, we're still designing and making vehicles where

(01:58):
all of these amazing companies were based, about 50 years, 100 years ago.
It's such a good history.
It's great that we're over the road from where the Humber factory used to be, literally on the doorstep
of the old Humber factory. So I love all of that history and so I really enjoy being in Coventry.
I have to say, obviously, with your design aesthetic, had you and Dave talked about this before?

(02:21):
I'm assuming over a pint or two, you had told him your thoughts on car design and what you think
we should be doing at ARIGO?
Well, he's been fantastic with me, Dave. We started off with a different relationship
because he wasn't my boss at the beginning. So the first six years I was up here,
I would just on the Friday afternoon, go into the office, have a chat about what they were up to,

(02:43):
what we were up to. So our relationship started off like that.
And so it's always been a very natural relationship that we can talk frankly with each other
and just informally. And then he's been great in terms of giving me lots of freedom when it comes
to design. He's definitely not one of these bosses who overly like micro managers. He trusts what I do

(03:07):
and he lets me get on with it. And that's fantastic. It's a great environment to work in.
Yeah, you're really lucky that you were able to first of all know what you wanted to do so young.
That's very rare. And then the fact that you've pushed it through and were able to meet Dave,
obviously we haven't even covered the Humber estate.
It's so much, everyone likes to think I, if you're a tantian or whatever,

(03:31):
or but it's so much, it's like sliding doors. So much is just being lucky, right place,
right time, right people. And it's just funny how stuff like that works. I think about that quite a
lot though. So good to be in my career that if hadn't happened, the world I've been now, it's
yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, yeah. Well, what was the first project that you can remember like really
pushing in on the design for the company? First thing would have been the two seat pod.

(03:56):
So that was like a government program. It's called Lutz Pathfinder.
And that was the first thing that so that time it is still, as I mentioned earlier,
still slightly separated in that I was at the TENSA. And although it was, we were very closely linked,
it was still separate. So the first true project when I was an EREGO employee would have been the
four seat pod that we then we then evolved in 2016. And we had a lot of success with that,

(04:22):
built a lot of those went globally. We had them in like Canada, Australia, all over the world.
So that was a successful project. But they were always kind of a development vehicle
that were really good for programs. But what we've recently been trying to move into is like
full production vehicles. And now obviously that brings us into kind of the look in the field.

(04:48):
So when you started with the two seater pod and have moved through numerous vehicles at EREGO,
so let's see what have we, what have you worked on so far, the auto pod, auto shuttle, auto deliver.
Yeah, you lose track. It's mad. It's mad when you look back. There's nowhere else, certainly in
this country that I could have worked where I'd have been involved with so many full vehicle

(05:11):
projects in the space of eight years. Like seven vehicles. Yeah, I was just going to say in the
course of this year, a vehicle year. It's been amazing. So you never get bored. It's all we've
got saying exciting on the horizon. And then the design language and what we do is kind of evolved
over time with the different materials we started to use. We used to use a lot of those earlier

(05:34):
vehicles with a lot more curvaceous, softer, because they were used with vacuum formed plastics,
which have to be in their very nature of how you do them. You end up with lots of big radiuses and
stuff. And so that's where we started. And then in the last five years or so, as we've
gone more into maybe engineering led projects, we started going more toward like folded sheet

(05:57):
metal. So instead of seeing that as like a hindrance to the design process, it's embracing that
and making the most of being limited to folded flat shapes. So it's how do you get
that emotion and shape and a bit of style into something that's always just folded from flat
panels. But like I say, that is more interesting with constraints. And you've got a clean sheet

(06:24):
of paper. It's a little bit boring because you can do anything. So constraint to a good thing.
So yeah, so we've evolved into this kind of folded aesthetic, which fires in quite nicely with the
logo, logo being double triangles, it's very easy to design the logos into the vehicle. And then
with the graphic stuff, the logo is a 30 degree angle. A lot of our graphics across the company

(06:49):
in like PowerPoint presentations and vehicles and stuff, where you reuse that 30 degree angle
and break it into like solid colors. So it's trying to combine the two things of like graphic design
and the actual sheet metal design of the vehicle into one holistic product.
Well, it's so edgy. And I would say of all the things that I hear when I go and talk at these

(07:10):
conferences and meet people are your vehicle looks miles away from anything else that's out there on
the market. So I really think it's a testament to of course, like what you can do in your vision.
And I want to know what inspired you like these angular shapes. Tell me about where does that come
from? Yeah. So I think it's important that our vehicles have a reaction so that we can differentiate

(07:34):
ourselves. It doesn't have to be positive. But like you say, the good thing is that we're always
different. So obviously, I want everyone to love what we do, but it's not the be on end or the
important thing is that we're and we're doing things, we're not doing them just for the sake of it,
just to be different. As I say, they're led by the engineering and the functionality of the vehicle.

(07:55):
So another constraint common constraint we have is obviously being an autonomous vehicle company.
Our vehicles are littered with cameras, sensors, LiDARs, all sorts of stuff. Now, if you're designing
like a four seat vehicle for the road, a lot of those things are hard to resolve because they're
seen as like carbuncles, lumps and bumps ruining the vehicle. But again, it's turning that constraint

(08:20):
into a positive and embracing those things and not trying to hide them away being proud that
that is autonomous and it's a functional thing. So it's packaging them nicely, but not being
embarrassed of those kind of things. Yeah. What would you say is the most difficult
thing that you've had to design or work around to date? Yeah. Every project is different. So every

(08:46):
project has difficulties in that. I think the key is at the beginning is trying to get nice
proportions on things. It's the goal of every vehicle designer is proportions make such a
difference. Like if your proportions are off, it doesn't matter about your, how the quality of
services and your details. So at the beginning, it's proportion. So being having a foot in two

(09:13):
camps, which is engineering and the design here is I can shake that at an early stage. So if we
need to stretch something by 50 mil here or there, I have the freedom to do that. So I don't ever
really do it purely for styling. It's done when there's an engineer and constraint that needs
to be met. But the ability to be able to tweak those proportions at the beginning is a really

(09:39):
key thing. And if you can't do that, then it's very difficult. So I've had a couple of vehicles a
bit like that, which are more of a challenge. But given enough time, you can normally sort of see
Time and money, time and money. Speaking of some cool stuff, do I not know? Did we do some kind of

(09:59):
Formula One race? I see that model in the background with the little triangles. What's going on back
there? That's me playing. That's what you're going to try and slowly talk Dave into. Yeah, amazing.
Yeah, sponsor an F1 team. Yeah, yeah. Let's just make our own. We got this. There is like a really
cool Indy 500 autonomous race here in the US. I don't know if you've seen that where it's all

(10:21):
autonomous. And yeah, so we've worked with some people on what does that look like? And there's
always interest there. But yeah, high speed, no thanks. What is the robot in the background there?
That is the greatest droid from any Star Wars film. That's K2SO.
Oh, yeah. I feel like you'd blend into the background. From Rogue One. That's one of my favorite Star Wars

(10:43):
films. Oh, that's okay. Now I'm going to have to look at it and then take a picture. I bring a lot of
Star Wars aesthetic. If you look at our vehicle with that in mind, you do see a lot. There's a
lot of kind of, there's some subtle references to Star Wars stuff, but sci-fi as an inspiration is a
big thing. And that's what's, because for me outside sometimes people may look at,

(11:06):
like other designers might look and think of, you're designing like airballs for vehicles and
very functional things. But what you're really doing is it's like movie concept vehicles. That's
the way I look at it because the low volume, they look completely different to anything else. So you
can really drive that kind of sci-fi narrative into them. And that's one of my biggest enjoyments
doing it. I wanted to touch on that because, you know, I came from the automotive world and

(11:32):
going to all the auto shows around the world and you always saw these amazing concept cars. And the
biggest complaint was that looks nothing like the vehicle that's out there today. And ours,
like our living and breathing concept kind of threw to reality. What are your thoughts on that?
It's a good thing. We never have to go through that process of watering down the initial concept.

(11:53):
They evolve, like all products do evolve, but the core themes and aesthetics of them never really
get watered down. That's great. Again, that is obviously one of the frustrations for a lot of
designers in industry at IEMs and stuff is you can't truly express yourself because you're so
constrained by lots of, lots of things. Yeah. Yeah. No, for sure. When it comes to, we were talking

(12:20):
about inspiration through Star Wars, obviously I know of a really cool project that you've worked
on at the office itself. The bathroom at Origo is like the craziest, most out of place, but cool
looking thing ever. Please tell me how this came to light and how you guys decided to completely
reno the bathrooms into like arc deco masterpieces. Yeah. I think I'm very, very sensitive to the

(12:46):
visuals of buildings and interiors and stuff, and especially if you go and visit suppliers,
it's all the stuff jumps out immediately like old carpet tiles, like paint peeing and stuff like
that. And obviously we work in an older buildings in the industrial state, like 1950s buildings.
So when I started, they were all like that. And yeah, I just use it every time I was in a meeting

(13:09):
or in Dave's office or go to use the toilet, you think, oh, this is terrible. And it wouldn't take a
lot. It's just having the thought and it wouldn't take a lot to make this a much nicer space.
Because what I think is it, it reflects the, the attitude and the personality of the company.
When people come to visit, it shows that we care about the details. We notice these things.

(13:32):
And it's all important. Yeah. And then it's, it's got a bit of an arc deco theme in there.
I'm very passionate about art deco. It's like, art deco, art modern. It's a beautiful era
of architecture. So pretty brutalist and lots of curves, but lots of straight lines at the same

(13:53):
time. It's just a, it's a very inspirational period. So yeah, that's a nice thing.
Yeah. I think it makes sense. You'd have to do those kind of things. There's like little side
projects. So they're never a core thing, but it's nice juggling projects. It keeps things fresh.
And yeah, it's fun stuff. Yeah. We've done a lot of, a lot of the buildings now.

(14:15):
The boardroom. So great with the vehicle. We've done like ballroom deception,
all of the build hall. Yeah. Most of the toilets.
Yeah. Really satisfying being able to do those things. And you can't leave in a mark as well.
Trying to lead, bring the company to a better place than it was when you started.
I like to think I've done that across most of the games.

(14:35):
No, I would like to say that obviously from, from my perspective and in communications and
branding and marketing and everything, I love it. It tells the story through and through. Like you
said, we have so many people that want to come in and see what we're all about, where we're building
these vehicles. And I think it does leave that lasting impression that, you know, everything is
thought of from, from start to finish. So, so thank you for that. Not just the vehicle design,

(14:57):
but you know, I got to have the best Lou in town. I will say, I know we have some really exciting
stuff coming up with our next vehicle. We can just briefly touch on auto cargo. This thing is
massive. So just how did you even, you know, briefly wrap your head around putting that together?

(15:18):
That, that has been, that's had a long gestation period. It's, that's been in the back of everyone's
mind for getting on three years now. And so whenever we were struggling with something,
my go-to rule would be we'll wait until we do cargo, knowing the things that we're going to
be thrown up by it. And yeah, it is a huge thing. So it's, it's virtually doubled the length of an

(15:41):
ADT, not quite twice as wide. Because it takes, it's, as its name implies, it takes the cargo.
So it's the ULD containers that go on the back of the AADs are almost twice as big. And then
they go into the cargo planes over. So cargo is going to be deployed to East Midlands Airport,

(16:02):
where UPS are based. And we had the opportunity to go there and visit as they were unloading
an aircraft one night, which is amazing. I stood on the apron next to it as these huge machines
are loading, unloading these crates. So it's challenging because it's big. We tried to do a
few carryover things. It's got the same cav as an ADT, got the same battle box. Very cool by the way.

(16:25):
Yeah. Thank you very much. And yeah, then it's just stretching it in other ways. It's,
mechanically, it's much simpler than the ADT. The ADT has so many subsystems on. So we would,
although we've, we've still got over a lot of the challenges now with cargo, and we would
build cargoes all day. There are a lot simpler vehicle, though they're a lot bigger. And again,

(16:51):
it's carrying forward that kind of folded angular aesthetic in a pleasing way. That was, it was
a challenge proportionately with cargo. When I first did it, it just, I could not get it to look
right. It just looks so strange to me because my brain was so programmed to see in the ADT cab.
And then being that width. So all of a sudden, as it had these arches grown on it, it just,

(17:13):
it didn't look right. Wait a minute. It didn't look right. And then, yeah, just one day, I just sort
of cracked it. We are, I packaged like the battery box. If you see it, it's got a battery box at the
rear. And that's the same height and width as the cab. And that, straight away, that kind of
visually balanced it. And it worked a bit better then. And they just a little bit of detail on the

(17:34):
wheel arches. And yeah. So now I'm, I'm happy with it. And it's weird because whatever the project,
the current project is, that's my favorite. I go through these periods of, as you're going through
it, you hate it and think, oh, it's really not working. And then you really enjoy it. And then
you look back and you don't want to work on the stuff you've been working on. It's always next.

(17:55):
Just find out. Next, next, next. And that's at the moment, that's my baby, or a cargo. So we're,
we're going to be running it two weeks from now to maybe two weeks to a month. It's going to be
running. So that's always such an amazing thing. See your creation like move under its own steam.
That never gets old. And it's right there. So it's easy for you to also hop over and see it in

(18:16):
action at the East Midlands Airport. So yeah. And it's how the building works. Like I'm upstairs
above the build hall. So when I get fed up with CAD or just need a break, I wander down and have
a bit of input. See if anyone's got any questions or it's just nice sometimes seeing it going together
and feeding that back into the design and how we put things together to make it easier

(18:40):
with the guys downstairs. And then also being able to be hands on for want to go and help put a few
bits and pieces on here and there and go and do that. That happens a lot at the beginning of
when it's concept. So something we haven't built before because it's been my baby for whatever,
six months, nine months. Yeah, you see it. It's in my head, but nobody else is. So it's feeding that
information out in an efficient manner because we're a small team. We don't have the ability to

(19:04):
create like build instructions, build manuals, get everyone in the room. This is how it's going to be.
It tends to be I go down and work with the guys to build the first prototypes. And that's really
satisfying. And it makes you a better designer, a better engineer. Because when you're in the CAD,
you're not just in that world of the theoretical, the theoretical digital realm where one build

(19:25):
on the CAD thing looks massive. And then you put things together in real life and like, wow,
what was I thinking that the tolerance is insane. So yeah, that's another, another great thing of
how we work here. Very cool. Well, and I know your office is very close and everyone talks about
your office as being the the mecca, the coolest place ever. So my last question to you before
we close out today's podcast is what is the what is your favorite thing in your office in your space?

(19:49):
Wow. That's a good question. I've got I've started collecting autographs of famous engineers
from the past. It's like most people collect like autographs of celebrities or
Yeah, footballers sports people outside. I collect in anything that's signed by somebody. So

(20:12):
I've got Mario Foscieri who is technical director of Ferrari for over like 30 years.
Adrian knew he's a big hero of mine. Got stuff signed by him. And then what's cool in this industry is
like jazz technical director my boss, he knows a lot of these people. So I read, I've been reading
books and he knows the people. So I'll give him a book and say, can you get them to sign it?

(20:35):
So these people that have been in industry and now a lot of them are retired. But I've got, I don't
know, 10, 12 books signed by lots of designers, lots of engineers. And those things, they're really
precious. I don't get having a selfie with famous people. I feel like there's more of their soul
in the signature. Yeah, their hands touch the paper. So they're probably things. Yeah.

(20:59):
That's very cool. That was unexpected. So well, a lot of stuff was unexpected. It was great to
learn more about you because even though you and I have spent time with one another, I didn't know
a lot about your history and your past. So thanks for sharing. And thanks everyone for tuning in.
Check us out in another couple of weeks for the next episode of Take Off and keep up to date with

(21:19):
all of these amazing stories from the people that are driving the innovation themselves.
Thanks again and have a great day. Cheers.
Just a side note before we close out the podcast, the views and opinions shared here are those of
the hosts and the guests and do not necessarily reflect Aurrigo International PLC or its official

(21:39):
stance. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Some forward looking statements might come
off which are just projections and are subject to change.