Hasta La Ideas

Our exclusive look at how a 300 year old tree became a key element in Cadillac’s ultra-luxurious concept car

The Ciel is Cadillac’s latest attempt to reinvigorate the company’s heritage of American luxury—reflected both in its attention to detail and its desire to explore the journey of traveling by automobile. One of the concept car’s most striking elements is the solid olive wood used inside the passenger cabin. When talking to the car’s design team we learned about the extensive process they went through to integrate the wood into the design. Project Manager Alessandro Zezza from Cadillac’s Advanced Design Group shared the story of its creation—a long journey that began early in the design phase around two years ago. Make sure you check out the amazing images in our slideshow below.

Based on the complexity of the car’s initial drawings the team realized that veneered wood was not going to be an option, so Christine Ebner, who heads up color and trim in the studio, set out to find a hardwood solution. In addition to the usual concerns about finding wood that complimented the car’s design, the designers realized that they needed to mill the components from sequential planks, and that they needed 11 two-inch planks—four of which had to be glued together to create the interior’s larger pieces. That’s a very big, old tree and issues of sustainability were a big concern in the studio.

Christine, located what seemed like a prime candidate—a very rare, 300-year-old olive tree that had fallen in a storm in its native Naples, Italy—at Hearne Hardwoods in Oxford, PA, a wood yard outside of Philadelphia. Rick Hearne worked with Christine to find the perfect tree, and fortunately this one had already been dried in a kiln and been sequenced. Fortunately, the designers loved the Italian olive wood’s rich grain and markings, and the team set to work.

The journey began on a beautiful planer from the 1940s, which took on the 30″ wide trunk with ease. The planks were sanded, photographed, and aligned on a gantry mill (a large platform designed for cutting planks) with their outer skin still on. Registration holes were drilled, and XYZ coordinates taken. The planks were then replicated in Alias’s Autostudio using texture and planar maps, which enabled Alessando to analyze the grain and develop a very intricate map of from where each piece would be cut. An incredibly complex 3D puzzle, each piece needed to be cut around the tree’s knots and splits while also ensuring that the grain direction and tree ring orientation matched. There was only one trunk to work with, and every piece had to be accounted for.

Darryl Grijalva, the studio’s shop manager, then created the tool paths for each plank and part. Dowel pins were used to ensure that the boards lined up properly and stayed in place when they were glued. Once the blocks were ready they were sent over to 3D Mass Design and Engineering in Glendale, CA. Rocky Gonzalez, who oversaw the fabrication there, had to work around concerns of chipping and warping, but the wood cut beautifully.

From there they were sent over to Metalcrafters in Fountain Valley, CA for test fitting and then to Tom Houlden, who ensured that the wood was finished to spec with its final staining (medium warm) and finishing (clear satin). After their lengthy journey—from Italy to Philadelphia and from studio to studio around Los Angeles, the 21 completed pieces were brought back to Metalcrafters for their final fit, and then back to the GM studio for final assembly.

It seems appropriate that the journey of the wood, through the vision of the design team and the many skilled artisans who crafted the interior, isn’t that different from the kind of relaxed, refined and elegant journey the Ciel was designed to take.

Photos provided by the GM Design Studio; photos of the finished car by Josh Rubin. For more images see gallery below.

Our rare look inside three of Ferrari’s most exclusive facilities

After making the trip to Maranello, Italy to check out Ferrari’s new Jean Nouvel-designed production facility and restaurant a year ago, we were lucky enough to be invited back for this year’s World Design Contest in July 2011.

This time we toured the amazing V8 production line again, but also had the rare privilege of seeing many of the standout cars in Ferrari’s extensive vintage collection, as well as getting an exclusive glimpse inside the
FXX, Forumula 1 Clienti, and
Classiche garages.

The FXX garage houses and maintains a few dozen independently-owned Ferrari FXXs, the $1.8 million non-street-legal versions of the Enzo. These superior limited production cars are significantly modified specifically for racing. Storing your FXX here gives you access to Ferrari’s private track—so private we weren’t even allowed to photograph it.

Every year Ferrari produces between three and six Formula One race cars. At the end of the season, Ferrari keeps one, putting the rest up for sale to private clients. Like for owners of the FXX, with the Formula One Clienti garage you get storage, maintenance and access to the track—providing you have the funds of course.

For the classic car connoisseur, Ferrari also offers complete factory renovation and restoration assistance in their Classiche garage. Here the brilliant craftspeople will restore your vintage Ferrari to its former glory. Every little detail is remanufactured to its original specs in order to receive a proper Ferrari seal of authenticity.

For more exclusive images from our trip check out the gallery below.

All images by Evan Orensten

A €16,500 mountain bike that might be more suited for the wall than the trail

Describing their products as “perfectly handcrafted and strictly limited objects of art,” Germany’s Vandeyk Contemporary Cycles this fall will release the Nightstream, a retro-inspired mountain bike with a whopping €16,500 price-tag. The bike brand, comprised of “a handpicked brigade of experts in fields as diverse as design, bicycle frame building, photography, and writing,” seeks to produce revolutionary, highly-sophisticated designs with each hand-constructed bike.

Constructed with only state-of-the-art components and masterful German craftsmanship, the Nightstream is equipped for off-road use, but you’ll be hard pressed to find one of these outside of a display. With only twenty-five being produced, exclusivity is guaranteed.

Vandeyk’s cyclo-cross and road models are currently in development, while the Nightstream will be released in September. Direct inquiries to the Vandeyk website to order.

The speed and ease of driving Audi’s latest A7 in Los Angeles

Where other sedans in its class swaddle their passengers in cloud-like comfort down to pillowy handling, Audi’s A7 stands out for its adrenaline-revving performance and similarly bold design. First stepping into the car, the well-apportioned interior (and lack of a rear middle seat) immediately signals that this car is not for the child-toting but is a less versatile vehicle geared toward someone (or a couple) who wants to make a style statement.

Audi put a real emphasis on the design of the 2012 model (including sponsorship of our Audi Icons series), basing the exterior on three lines—a long roof, boat tail-shaped sill and shoulder line—that results in a sense of movement from front to back and meeting in the rear. The coupe-like design is comparable to that of a Mercedes CLS, but distinctive lighting with an emphasis on LEDs lends trademark Audi looks to the front and rear ends.

Inside, roomy leather seats that cradle you, details like the real woodgrain paneling and the quality feel of the controls make for the overall Audi experience that has made us fans, and earned the manufacturer top numbers for performance and sales in 2010. After seeing the impressive design details of the model at auto shows, we jumped at the opportunity to test drive it for a few days recently in Los Angeles.

Appearances aside, the real allure is the knife-like precision of the car’s German engineering. Audi’s Quattro all-wheel drive system shines in the A7, lending superior handling thanks to the way it “shifts torque instantaneously to where it’s needed.” That, combined with its low ground clearance, mean the vehicle takes turns fluidly at higher speeds than expected. With 310 horsepower in its 3-liter V6 engine, there’s plenty of guts for effortlessly hugging corners or just for pumping it from zero to 60 in 5.4 seconds, a fact also achieved by its smooth-shifting eight-speed transmission.

Fast and easy to drive, the A7 also boasts a number of in-car features that set it up as a car as equally ideal for commuting as it is for a longer weekend trip—perfect for a driving city like Los Angeles. (Though the over-six-foot passenger who rode with me did complain of a lack of lumbar support.) Tech innovations include a highly-intuitive interface for controlling audio, navigation and the like, led by Audi’s touchpad system that allows drivers to “write” out letters and numbers when entering addresses or phone numbers. Audi connect, an industry first, integrates Google Earth navigation with voice recognition, Google Local search and Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing drivers to check email, surf the internet and download videos.

With superior engineering and an interior that cradles you in luxury, the choice of similarly sporty hatchbacks starting around $60,000 MSRP is clear.

Customize a classic with Hermès’ new scarf embroidery service

Hermès, already known for their timeless silk scarves, launched their new Custom Silk Corner today, making the iconic accessory even more of an heirloom.

Perfect for Mother’s Day or to commemorate any special event, the service allows customers to choose one of 17 scarf designs to personalize with any of 30 different colors of silk yarn and two styles of typography. You can also choose different types of scarves (from the giant 90-centimeter scarf to a “Twilly” silk ribbon), and various occasions—birthdays, marriage, etc.—to celebrate. Once you select your moment and your message, whether simple initials or more detailed sentiments (prices start at $15 per letter), a local Hermès-approved embroiderer keeps turnaround time within one to two weeks.

The service is part of their recently-expanded Madison Avenue flagship store—a 2,100-square-foot space designed by Rena Dumas’ Paris-based architecture firm RDAI that comes fresh on the heels of another RDAI-designed Hermès project. A collaboration with Enzo Mari, Antonio Citterio and Dumas’ son (who’s also Hermès artistic director) Pierre-Alexis Dumas, the collaboration consisted of a pavilion cleverly constructed out of cardboard for their recent furniture collection showing at Milan.

Scarf prices vary depending on style, to see some of their classic patterns check out Hermès’ online boutique.

Also on Cool Hunting: The Hermès Scarf: History & Mystique