Hardware and manual work

The Design Studio team implements its visions using a combination of hand-crafted precision and modern computer technology. Black-and-white and color sketches continue to be drawn on paper with pencils and markers – but these days the drawings are scanned into computers, where they can be refined and altered using an electronic stylus before being passed on as frontal, rear, and side-view images to model constructors. The latter are organized into a team of four “sculptors” who build 1:4 scale models on the ground floor of the studio.

"Every good idea I have ­begins with a pencil and a blank piece of paper. I just sit down and let my imagination run free." - Nicolas Garfias began thinking like a designer as a child, when he loved to play around his mother’s desk – which just happened to be located in the legendary design office run by Charles and Ray Eames. Today, Garfias is thrilled to be getting paid for fulfilling a childhood dream.

The model specialists start out with a molded blank of clay that they scan with a computer. The approximately two million data triangles for vehicle geometry thus obtained enable the computer to calculate a detailed polygonal surface encompassing everything from the radiator grille to the car’s taillights. The resulting measurements are utilized by a computer-operated molding cutter to precisely shape the clay. "Digital technology has given us a tremendous opportunity to do things more quickly and make data calculations that can be sent to other design studios around the world," says David Slaughter, the most senior design sculptor in Irvine. "Ultimately, however, the digital world cannot completely replace a physical model. A well-proportioned design line that breathes and conveys the spirit of Mercedes-Benz is still best created by hand." Despite this view, Slaughter and his colleagues have been working for years with completely computer-generated models. These have been especially helpful with advanced concept cars and show cars designed for exhibitions or – like the liquid-metal Silverflow – conceived solely for presentation at design shows.