DESIGN The Arkonik Beach Cruiser by Etienne
I
me in repeating that. “The launch of the car we produced together”… Yes, even now after a year or so of getting to know Etienne and working with him on our joint project, I still have to pinch myself that I have essentially produced a car with the designer of the Bugatti La Voiture Noire.
eye with my cheeky chit-chat about the design of his new Porsche 928 which seemed to amuse him. Most 18 yearolds were too scared to even approach him, but I just ploughed straight in and clearly it meant something as within a couple of weeks I was working with him in London at the Conran Design Shop.
Since that time in March 2020 the world has of course been in various stages of lockdown and so myself and Etienne have been getting to know each other via telephone, FaceTime and Zoom.
It all started with a late night conversation between us about cars (of course) and design. My own design background goes way back to 1978 when I was invited to join Terence Conran (before he became ‘Sir’), at his flagship London HQ Conran Shop, which was his design head office.
Sir Terence was a huge influence on the design side of my career and life and I owe him so much for such a great start to my working life.
Fast forward to September 2021 and we finally got to meet at the launch of the car we produced together. Please indulge
I had been headhunted by Conran himself from his Croydon Habitat store where I was ‘furniture manager’, and caught his
first knew about Etienne Salomé from the 2019 Geneva Motor Show as I literally watched him unveil the one-off Bugatti La Voiture Noire he designed. Little did I know on that day in March of 2019, that a year later I would be inviting him to write an article for b500, the car & car culture magazine I had just launched.
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Back to mine and Etienne’s late night calls. We discussed what he would like to design next after such an incredible Bugatti legend he designed which paid homage to the Atlantic Type 57. What could possibly come next I asked him.
