Interview with David Flores Loredo

I have always wanted to be engineer and designer because it was my passion. I have been drawing and creating machines, vehicles and products since I was a child, so my dream was to design and build them proffesionally and it made me study Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Automotive Design to learn the necessary skills to be able to do it. I have always loved to think creatively, sketch my ideas on blank papers and develop them in 3D to finally transform them into real and beautiful working objects. I feel that I haven't choose to be a Designer, it has choosen me and I have

My own style could be resumed in a combination of the Organic and the Streamline design philosophies. It results in a futuristic, dynamic and elegant conception of design, with a clean and three-dimensional surface language and interweaved volumes with a sense of flow and speed. I start to create my concepts with sketchs on a blank paper and then I develop them three-dimensionally through Solidworks or Alias Surface Modelling.

The design process is fascinating to me. I feel concentrated and in creative flow during many phases of it. I find the initial sketch phase particularly exciting, where you can (and should) let your imagination fly and create unique concepts in a world where you can allow yourself to break the stablished rules. It is here, in this fantastic process of abstraction, where magic appears and where the forms and lines that shape the future are born. Then comes the phase of filtering the right ideas and taking them to a realistic plane through 3D modeling. This stage is also very exciting, but it is harder because you have to deal with the real limitations. The worst phase, due to its aridity, is the development of detailed manufacturing engineering. Finally, I also find the render phase really beautiful, since you can feel your design in three dimensions and enjoy it in all its splendor with different brightness, colors and textures.

I think all designers should be observant and very sensitive to the beauty of the things that surround them. Everything that surrounds us is giving us continuously the answers and the keys of what is beautiful and what is not. You just have to look at it carefully and ask yourself questions in order to get those answers. I also believe that every designer must be passionate about creation, since that essential motivation will be his prize and his motor throughout his life. For me, there is no greater satisfaction than creating an object from a blank paper and being able to feel it in my hand, knowing that it will make many people happy and that it has been a small step forward in the creation of a more beautiful and better world.

My future plans are to create my own multidisciplinary design studio and develop innovative and futuristic projects that make a real contribution to the world of tomorrow. I would like to be remembered as a designer who defied established rules and created really beautiful and innovative products and vehicles which were considered masterpieces along time. I have many outstanding and very interesting projects and I am determined to carry them out.

Follow your passion. Do not ask anyone for permission, just get down to work and develop all the projects you have in mind, without expecting benefit in return, simply for the pleasure of having created something wonderful. Be tenacious and persevere, remembering that good design must be enjoyed and suffered. If not, there is no glory. Go ahead!

I would suggest them to search the beauty in shapes. I believe that the world of tomorrow must be beautiful as much as possible and that everything that surrounds us contributes to this. Sometimes, during the design process, due to many different factors such as economic reasons, strange design philosophies, unexpected technical limitations or simply bad taste, the beauty of the final product is lost and for me this is not acceptable. The world of tomorrow needs beauty and there is no greater satisfaction than having created it yourself. It's in our hands.

Wake up and try to design the best machines and products on my hand!

Yes, I try to be updated with the latest design trends in different kind of design worlds, like interiors, automotive or product design. This makes me immerse myself in the style and forms used in the most advanced projects and be aware and sensitive to the moment in which we live, of the flavor of our time. I especially find my inspiration in automotive design, where I enjoy and continually analyze the surface language and the most beautiful resources used in the latest releases. However, when I make my designs I use my own style and my own interpretation of beauty, abstracting enough of current trends and using them only to know the position of my product in innovation and futurism with respect to others.

First of all, a good design must have a nice combination between beauty and usability. It must be a pleasure for the eye and a pleasure to use. If not, something has failed. But behind this there are many factors that might seem invisible, but which are also really important for the survival of the design itself, such as being easily manufactured at reasonable cost.

A design is ready when you have achieved the beautiful shape that you initially wanted in a fully functional object ready to be manufactured tomorrow at reasonable price with the available manufacturing technologies.

My biggest design work is the Eagle Electric Guitar. The Eagle presents a lightweight, futuristic and sculptural design with a completely new design language, inspired by the Streamline and the Organic design philosophies. I wanted to achieve the most beautiful and lightweight guitar that I could realize. In this creative process I didn’t wanted to do the same that I had seen before, because I had the feeling that something more advanced, more attractive and completely new could be done. With that feeling in mind I started to push the stablished limits with new ideas, shapes and volumes, with the objective of develop a futurist design but at the same time elegant and enough conservative to be understood as an electric guitar at first saw, without trespassing the “Most Advanced Yet Acceptable” line. I'm very proud with the final result.

Raymond Loewy

I live in Gijón, a beautiful medium city in the north coast of Spain. Anyway, my own style has been highly influenced by the mediterranean, creative and avant-garde style of Barcelona, where I lived when I was coursing the Master of Automotive Design and working at the SEAT Design Center.

I think that it is very easy to work with me. I'm quite optimist and passionate of my job, so I'm always open to many different challenges. Preferably I work alone in order to feel free to project my own design style on the product, but I also enjoy a lot working on a team with other engineers and designers.

I work for free with the students of the University of Oviedo giving them courses on vehicle design. For me it is a very rewarding experience and I love seeing the interest and enthusiasm they convey. They tell me they love it and they are always grateful to me

The A Design Award has been a great experience for me. They have valued the design of the Eagle Electric Guitar very positively, which has been a great boost for both the design and for me as a designer. Thanks to this, the guitar has appeared in numerous world publications and the work has been widely recognized. As if that were not enough, the Gala on Lake Como has been simply wonderful.

I have always wanted to be an engineer and designer because my passion for machines, vehicles and products came to me since I was a child and I have been admiring and drawing them since that age. My dream was to design and build them and it made me study Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Automotive Design in order to learn the necessary skills to be able to do it. I have always loved to think creatively, sketch my ideas on blank papers and develop them in 3D to finally transform them into real and beautiful working objects. I feel alive and happy in this creation process.

I love to design vehicles, because I have always admired them and they are my greatest inspiration. Nevertheless, I also enjoy a lot designing products, especially electric guitars and I am opened to any kind of design, because the creativity has no limits and I think that all the design fields are really interesting.

I think that they should realize a formation in the Industrial Design field and if possible, complete it with a specialized Master. Is important for them to cultivate their aesthetic sensibility and to have a creative and artistic way of thinking. Besides that, it is essential to practice and enjoy drawing to have good sketching skills and to dominate at least one 3D software with high surfacing capabilities in order to upgrade them to an accurate and realistic three-dimensional model. It is really valuable to work in a real design environment because after the academic formation, it is by far the best way to improve their skills.
Finally, I think that a designer must be passionate of its work and must have patience and perseverance, because they are the fuel needed to face all the upcoming challenges and to finish every project.

A good designer realizes good designs and that is very valuable, but a great designer can surprise with audacious masterpieces of undoubtable beauty and high level of innovation that usually break the stablished rules.

Firstly I evaluate the proportion and beauty of the whole design and the harmonious integration of form and function. After that, I evaluate the degree of innovation and the intelligence of the solutions applied.

Well, I would like to design hundreds of different products, but one of my dreams is to design a sports car.

Besides a harmonious and intelligent fusion of form and function, all the designs must be beautiful, balanced and elegant. However, my secret ingredient is to project fluidity, dynamism and sportive elegance to them, my personal touch of style.

At this moment it is the Eagle Electric Guitar. It has been a complete creation process and the result has been so good as I was expecting from the beginning. It is differentiated from other similar concepts because it is balanced, beautiful and elegant besides its clearly futuristic and defiant projection. Beyond its lightness and sound quality, it has a new fluid and sculptural design language that gives it a unique identity and a powerful presence and that was the initial objective.

Probably continue working in the engineering field.

Design is for me a fascinating creation challenge that searches an innovating product with a perfect combination of beauty, usability and the use intelligent solutions or even the inclusion of a deep thinking philosophy on it.

Study a Master in Automotive design and work for some time in the SEAT Design Center have multiplied my design skills because I was learning from professional designers in an environment with high level of exigency. That pushed me to improve myself to perfect my design level in almost every aspect. And that definitely helped me to become a better designer.

In the best way possible: with high visual quality, high finish level and if possible, with a real working prototype or at least, a scale model.

The proposal of new and different innovative solutions with my own touch of style.

I am actually working in the next guitar model and I am excited about the results that I am obtaining.

Probably the design of the Eagle, because it has been a dream project for me, made from the absolutely creativity freedom and with the final satisfaction of playing the guitar that I designed from a blank paper.

Well, it is impossible to say a specific length, because it depends totally of the project complexity, the accumulated know-how about it and the necessary grade of definition; Is not the same to develop a conceptual design, than a real working design completely finished and ready for manufacturing, that I consider that could take easily a 75% more. Said this, a design project could take from weeks to months depending on these factors.

I always start sketching my ideas on a blank paper.

A design must be always balanced, beautiful and elegant.

Absolutely essential, because without the actual 2D and 3D powerful software, the designs could not be developed with the quality, precision and visual beauty that can be achieved today. Also, the advanced manufacturing process, as the CNC machines or the 3D printers, are really powerful and they offer incredibly manufacturing possibilities that would be impossible without their technology. However, this does not means that the traditional ways as sketching or hand modelling are out-of-time, because they are also essential and pleasant for me.

Normally I use the next software tools: Photoshop, Solidworks, AutoCAD, Autodesk Alias and Autodesk Showcase. If it is needed, I also could use Ansys to check the structural strength and rigidity of any part of the design or the design assembly as a whole.

Their role is totally essential in the design. Talk about the implications of all these factors could take hours and it usually fills complete books about them.
But summarizing in few words, the colors applied to the product and the relation between them and with the of rest of the elements integrated on it have to combine perfectly. Independently of the quality of the shape or other design aspects, a mismatch between colors could result in a visual disaster while a perfect combination between them would be an authentic pleasure to the eye. Likewise, the colors have a big symbolism and they should be intentionally aligned with the product character to obtain a clearly defined personality.
The materials define also the product character and its physical properties have a direct influence in its usability, tactility, visual finish, weight and manufacturing process. The selection of the adequate materials and the combination between them, can conform the product itself.
The ambient also defines the personality that the product should project. And I consider that a beautiful design can be only appreciated in an adequate ambient. Not in vain, the Tesla models finalize their production process on a polished wood floor in order to appreciate adequately their beauty.

I would like to meet and talk with Mike Oldfield and Mark Knopfler, my favorite guitarists and musicians around the world and my greatest musical influences. It would be an unforgettable experience.

Funny but real question. Is a great satisfaction to be awarded for your designs and to have news about them but I have to confess that a lot of media exposure shames me a little bit.

What makes me a great day as a designer is to work with creative freedom in a project that I really love and more if I see how it is being manufactured and I can touch it physically.

Yes, I think that it was quite obvious that I was going to be designer and/or engineer, as it fortunately happened.

The future, I like that word. I think that the humanity will face a great challenge in the future that will imply is own survival and the conservation of the earth where we live. This challenge has already started and first of all we must be conscious and quite sensitive to the huge destruction of the nature and the animal life of our pretty world, and the painful humanistic problems that we have. I think that we must face them with foresight and decision, looking for a world in peace, the conservation of our nature and the respect to the human rights and the animal life. We, the designers, could contribute to this huge task by developing new and feasible green technologies, beautiful, ecological and functional products, buildings and vehicles and betting hard for a bright future and a better world. As Jacke Fresco says, a “Future by Design”.

David Flores Guitars feature an alternative to traditional models based on new and emotional gold award-winning designs. Form and function united in new and lightweight premium guitars in the search of the ultimate shape of beauty, exclusive models that reach new horizons without loosing their classical roots.

Design is for me a fascinating creation challenge that searches an innovating product with a perfect combination of beauty, usability and the use intelligent solutions or even the inclusion of a deep thinking philosophy on it.

I think that every kind of design is beautiful and interesting but I enjoy specially designing vehicles and musical instruments, where I'm specialist in electric guitar design.

I think that is almost impossible to have a single favorite design, as I could happen with music, films or other kind of art, so I have favorite designs in almost every field and I find great inspiration and influence from all of them. Anyway, I have always loved car design and between many others I could highlight the BMW Z4, the Alfa Brera, the Aston Martin DB10 and many other classic or future designs like, the Mercedes 300SL or Tesla Model S. Nevertheless all of them have something in common: they are absolutely beautiful, elegant and dynamic. In the case of electric guitars I am in love with the Stratocaster, which I consider just perfect.

A car key for the SEAT automotive brand.

I like to project my ideas on a blank paper with pencils, pens and pantone markers. That classical and creative way is for me simply amazing and irreplaceable. In addition I love to work three-dimensionally with Solidworks and render the models with Autodesk Showcase.

Usually at the morning but sometimes I feel incredibly creative at night. In any case, listening to good music, specially Mike Oldfield and Mark Knopfler.

First of all, I focus mainly in the search of the beauty, the balance and the dynamism of the design. Once achieved a clearly defined concept, my efforts are directed to obtain a harmonious integration of form and function along the transformation into a real working object without losing the beauty and flavor of the initial design.

I think that great designs should be enjoyed a lot but also suffered, because they involve difficult challenges that bring great satisfaction but also great difficulties that will make you face unexpected problems, doubts and a long internal dialogue. In consequence, I can feel satisfaction, happiness and excitement but also creative tension and restlesness when facing big doubts or unexpected technical problems, what makes me to do my best in that design.

When the design is finished you see that what was in your mind has become real, what brings you an outstanding emotion. But this emotion depends of the final result: if the design has been

In this case I agree completely with the book “Emotional Design” written by Donald Norman. A design is successful when form and function harmoniously integrated in a unique entity that complies with three conditions: an undoubtable beauty, a pleasant usability and the use of intelligent solutions or even the incorporation a deep thinking on it.

Firstly I evaluate the proportion and beauty of the whole design and the harmonious integration of form and function. After that, I evaluate the degree of innovation and the intelligence of the solutions applied.

Design shapes the future, so we the designers are totally responsible of designing new objects in an ingenious and responsible way to create a sustainable future and a beautiful world.

My last exhibition was in Como, Italy. Next exhibition will be in Madrid, Spain.

My inspiration comes mainly from the beautiful organic shapes of nature as well as by the fascinating fluidity, tension and speed of the automotive design.

My own style could be resumed in a combination of the Organic and the Streamline design philosophies. It results in a futuristic, dynamic and elegant conception of design, with a clean and three-dimensional surface language and interweaved volumes with a sense of flow and speed.

I live in Gijón, a beautiful medium city in the north coast of Spain. Anyway, my own style has been highly influenced by the mediterranean, creative and avant-garde style of Barcelona, where I lived when I was coursing the Master of Automotive Design and working at the SEAT Design Center.

I always start projecting my ideas in blank papers, trying to do it as free and searching new and really attractive concepts. Then I transform them with Photoshop into a more realistic representation, taking into account the real proportions and measures that they should have to comply and incorporating the approximate arrangement of all the working parts or the required spaces. At this point, the concept can be evaluated in a more realistic approach, checking if the beauty of the initial concept remains, increases or does not match with the real arrangement that it should have in the reality. The Photoshop also helps to enhance the visual presentation of the first sketches. After that, I use this realistic presentation to develop with Solidworks or Autodesk Alias the detailed and fully realistic 3D model. At this point is very useful for me to build simplified real scale 2D or 3D models of the design in order to check it physically and even to integrate the real working components on it simulating a real assembly. If necessary, it can be also checked structurally with Ansys or another FEM software. The final step is to realize the detailed engineering and the needed adaptations for the product manufacturing.

I wake up at 7AM and try to do my best the rest of the day!

My golden rule is that a design must be always balanced, beautiful and elegant.

First of all, I consider that a designer should have a high aesthetic sensibility and a creative and artistic way of thinking. Besides that, it is essential to have good sketching skills to project the concepts and ideas on a blank paper and to dominate at least one 3D software with high surfacing capabilities in order to upgrade them to an accurate and realistic three-dimensional model. In addition, it is recommendable to have also technical skills to be able to evaluate your design as a real working product and prepare it to the final detailed engineering and the manufacturing process. Finally, I think that a designer must be passionate of its work and must have patience and perseverance, because they are the fuel needed to face all the upcoming challenges and to finish every project.

Normally I use the next tools: hand sketching, Photoshop, Solidworks, AutoCAD, Autodesk Alias and Autodesk Showcase. If it is needed I could use Ansys to check the structural strength and rigidity of any part of the design or the design assembly as a whole.

I manage my time focusing on what its really important.

Well, it is impossible to say a specific length, because it depends totally of the project complexity, the accumulated know-how about it and the necessary grade of definition; Is not the same to develop a conceptual design, than a real working design completely finished and ready for manufacturing, that I consider that could take easily a 75% more. Said this, a design project could take from weeks to months depending on these factors.

Probably working with the interior of the SEAT León at the SEAT Design Center.

Besides common companies, normally guitarists and individual customers who want their own personalized designs.

I love to design electric guitars, because I have always loved them. Nevertheless, I also enjoy a lot designing products, specially vehicles.

Commercialize my electric guitars with an own brand.

I develop my designs myself.

Yes. The next guitar model and evolutions of the actual ones are under development.

Just write me to floresloredo@gmail.com or visit my webstite www.davidfloresguitars.com