Designova, aka David Weiss, was kind enough to offer us his personal perspective as a resident of the Carolinas. This is his guest blog post - and we are stoked!
Please note that the North Carolina Competition has been delayed for at least another day as we iron out the details.
In the mean time, here is David's post. I know it will give you a lot to think about!
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Contrasts. I love a good contrast- both as a designer and as a North Carolinian. From mountains to the ocean, from Academia to NASCAR country, this is a state defined by tremendous contrast. I am going to do my best to walk you through two of these many contrasts that, to me, help define this unique state. However, as I am an active member of Local Motor’s Community, I also welcome your queries on the topic throughout the process, and any clarification you may desire to help inform the way you sculpt your designs for this competition. Let me begin with the basics:
Me:
Not a native Tarheel, I have called NC home for over a decade now, and have come to really love it here. I finished high school here, living just south of Chapel Hill, home to the first State University in our country, UNC. After graduating as a homeschooler, I was initially looking to go to the best car design school I could find, considering ACCD, RCA, CCS, and the like. However, a friend recommended I look into the options available here in NC, and after some research and meetings, I discovered NC State’s School of Design to be one of the top ranked in the country, with a very promising Industrial Design program. I studied there under a stellar faculty with my vision for transportation design, while building my skill set in other areas as well. After graduating I completed internships in a wide range of industries and have settled into varied freelance work for now. This occupation allows me to travel through the state, understanding it better and better. Now for two of the contrasts That I know and feel could inspire many brilliant designs:
Contrast 1: Ocean & Mountains
To me, the first and most obvious contrast is that of mountains and sea. Living in the middle of the state, I only have a couple of hours drive between me and the Atlantic, and driving west, the same distance to the amazing Blue Ridge Mountains. We have some of the best untouched coast I’ve ever seen, with great communities like Surf City on the outer banks (OBX), whose motto is “Big enough to be competitive, but small enough to be happy!” A good vision for your competition designs, I think. The mountains can be just as breathtaking, especially along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
As for enjoyable driving, North Carolina has well over 100,000 miles of open road, a high number for a state this size. These are invariably twisting and winding roads, mapped out like a spilled plate of spaghetti. You will find none of the rigid regularity of Midwestern street layouts here. One of the most popular destinations for the driver’s driver is the “Tail of the Dragon”, a spectacular stretch of highway 129 on the border of NC and TN in the Blue Ridge containing 318 curves in 11 miles. It is an adrenaline fueled drive, to say the least!
Contrast 2: Academia VS NASCAR
I attended design school at North Carolina State University, and during my time there I got to know and appreciate this part of North Carolina culture. I had friends and acquaintances from all schools in the area, and over time I got to see how much it affects the community and culture here. There is a strongly driven “coffee shop intellectualism” in this part of the state (Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham) that is honestly quite fun to engage in, with actively contrasting minds. This is true especially surrounding UNC and Duke- these schools are pillars of liberal culture recognized throughout the country. It is a hard community to describe, but if you combined the mentalities prevalent in both DC and San Francisco, you’ll get a good idea of it. The matured, politically active, style conscious hippie, you might say. {Side note: Michael Jordan is a proud graduate of UNC, and played as 23 in a Tarheel uniform before joining the Bulls in Chicago.
NASCAR:
As you might expect, these mentalities lead to somewhat of a niche array of cars in this local area- lots of Prius lovers, Volvo drivers (me amongst them), and Subaru-aholics. However, there is certainly an appreciation for special cars here, and some very serious car lovers to be had, despite the green-leaning culture… Some of that is thanks to NASCAR, a racing enthusiast culture, and a $3-billion-a-year brand. I personally am not very engaged in this culture, if I am honest, although I am certainly glad to have auto racing be a big part of the culture where I live, but in many ways I am frustrated with what NASCAR is. I mentioned to Ari a while ago that as a really dedicated car enthusiast, I wish that NASCAR was more about the cars, and less about the brands. I feel that it has become a purely celebrity and branding driven event, that uses what amount to “fast shells” with different logos and numbers plastered upon them to compete. This is what I feel of the overall culture, but I do have hope for the NASCAR “brand” to become something more. I lived in Mooresville, NC for a time for a design project, near where most of NASCAR’s teams are headquartered, and met some of the team members, pit crew, and engineers from various teams. These guys are passionate about the cars- not the sponsors, and not even the drivers so much. Meeting those guys (yes, they were all guys) helped me hope for a different NASCAR- one where a passion for cars, car design, and driving is what shines through. I think we can help send that message with our designs for this competition, and help create a vision for what could be. The passion is here, in this state ready to go, but is largely divorced from NASCARing… I know enthusiasts that I met while driving my Porsche 951 around the state that could fire up some change in this sport: I have one acquaintance that owns 50+ Porsches, and is passionate about each car’s history and design. Another friend road races at VIR regularly in his stock e30 BMWs and he knows every bolt of that car, in and out. Yet another is a racing instructor for Porsche Club of America- we do have our “petrolheads” here, and I think if we put something together that incorporates design passions with the pure history of NASCAR, we might start something.
To launch your design minds here, I will close with a summation of other diversity inherent in all of these contrasts. As a fairly active North Carolinian, I have seen the exceptional growth of this state in many arenas. The population here has grown by about 1,000,000 new residents over the last ten years, the equivalent of moving the entire city of New Orleans to North Carolina. The kind of growth we are experiencing in industry, academia, and culture as a whole has caused NC climb the ladder rapidly in profile and influence on the national(and even international) stage. This surge in people has been a multifaceted one, and has helped build contrast and diversity, making a growing array of new possibilities available here, from the choice of where to eat lunch, to the array of career experiences. The kind of opportunities inherent here have meant that the first powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight on the planet left the globe here in NC, it means that North Carolina is ranked third in the country for feature film production, it has cultivated the yacht industry to the point that we are giving Florida a run for her money as the most productive boat-building state in the union, and we have also built Charlotte into America’s second largest banking and financial hub, second only to NYC! More and more, North Carolina and her cities have been ranked as some of the best places to live and work in the whole country- just last year, Raleigh was ranked by Kiplinger Magazine as the number 2 best city to live in the entire nation! Their article will also give you a good feeling for what NC is becoming. Formerly a place defined by its rustic qualities, what you find here now is very much on the cutting edge of modern American life. This is a state full of rolling hills, millions of evergreen trees, beautiful lakes, grand rivers, sunrise beaches, rocky crags, and breathtaking views. Living here, you cannot help but spend time biking, boating, hiking, and climbing. The natural beauty here, coupled with these other cutting edge advancements require a complex understanding of need and want in developing a vehicle for this state. In my opinion, with this contest’s focus on “Off-Road”, beginning with a Land Rover-type vehicle concept will give you your best start. Sophistication coupled with a bring-it-on off-road capability. This is my suggestion to you- but I am certain we will all be surprised at the diversity and contrast of entries designed for this effort.
The opportunities in North Carolina beckon with promise, and these are just a few items off the impressive list of opportunities, achievements, and features of North Carolina- it is a list that I believe lives up to our state motto: “Esse quam videri” “To be, rather than to seem”. It is a motto that I believe we should keep in mind while developing our concepts.
Though not a native here, I do hope to remain a Tarheel for some time yet, as I have fallen for the kind of variety and contrasts available to someone calling the “Old North State” home, and I hope I have given you a glimpse of what that means. Designers, GO!
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