Cars are more than just vehicles to the British marque's creative director of exterior design.

Not many can describe cars with as much ardour as Aston Martin’s creative director of exterior design, Miles Nurnberger. Automotives are hardly as romantic as they are functional, but to the designer, they are a personification of people.

“A designer’s job most of the time is to put a feeling into shape,” he shares. “The DB11, for example, is a British gentleman—he holds his nose slightly high, and the crisp line on the back of the car is almost like the coat tails of an Eton boy.”

(Related: Aston Martin Lagonda's Marek Reichman Is A Funny Fellow)

Asked what he would do if he wasn’t designing cars, Nurnberger is almost certain that he would still go into art or design. “I’d love to be involved with music, but I’m useless! And I probably wouldn’t be racing because I’m not talented enough,” he muses. Architecture is where I think I would have ended up.” 

We find out more about his inspirations, affinity for design, and future plans for the British marque.

Tatler Asia
Above Rear view of the V12-powered DB11. (Photo: Courtesy of Aston Martin)

What attracts you most about a car’s design?
Miles Nurnberger (MN) I think most people would say it's the face of a car, because you relate to it. That’s why I think cars are an emotional purchase—because they always have this sort of human quality about its face. From a designer’s point of view, however, I would say it’s the silhouette of a car.

Have you ever made an impulsive purchase?
MN I came very close to buying a really strange car called the Alfa Romeo SZ. It was done in the 80s and actually known for being ugly, but I love it because you can see that it was designed by a single person so it’s more like a piece of art. It was a car with a very single vision of what an Alfa Romeo could be. I think there is a lot of design in the world that is trying to please too many people, but good design is about being self-confident and giving a message.

What is your approach to design?
MN Start from a clean slate and understand the ‘why’ of doing something. Don’t just take what was there before—because it was probably designed for a different era. Like the SUV segment, it’s not just that they’re big and you sit high—it’s there because people want to be protected and they also love the idea of escapism. It’s the same with any piece of design—understanding the human desire behind that.

That’s a romantic way to describe SUVs.
MN It is though, there is a romance to it! It’s escapism, the idea that you’re stuck in traffic but it looks like you’re going somewhere interesting. There’s something about SUVs that makes you feel like your life is more exciting. And GT cars—if you take the Aston Martin—were really romantic because there was this notion of travelling across continents. 

Tatler Asia

What’s next on the agenda for Aston Martin's Second Century Plan?
MN Vantage is next, and that’s going to be a great car as well. I think the Second Century Plan is very instinctive, and it won’t become apparent until you’ve seen our next few cars. It’s like reading a book—only when you start to read chapter two do you understand the relevance of chapter one. 

The next few chapters are very exciting, and really start to tell a modern story of Aston Martin. Our iconic grill shape, for example—we discovered that you can adapt it so that the character of each car is much more evident in its visual identity. DB11 is progressive but it’s still a classical GT car, the core and heart of Aston Martin. You’ll see with the cars that follow that we are more innovative with the brand. 

How do you imagine cars of the future will be like?
MN They would definitely sound different, but I believe legislation is going to enforce electric vehicles to make a noise. In fact, research has found that we have become so accustomed to the noise a car makes that if it makes a different sound, we wouldn’t recognise it to be a car and we would walk out onto the road thinking it’s music.

So I think cars will still make a noise, and hopefully they’ll sound cool. I grew up on sci-fi like Star Wars and they had a lot of cool noises—so I’m positive that the world will find a good noise for cars in the future.

Tatler Asia
Above The proposed design for Aston Martin's first all-electric supercar, RapidE. (Photo: Courtesy of Aston Martin)

Tell us about the development of Aston Martin Valkyrie with Red Bull Racing’s Adrian Newey
MN It is the most difficult project I’ve done in 20 years, because you are rediscovering new ways to do things. On the Valkyrie, we were pushing the aerodynamics so much that we had to go through the rule book and re-examine what is legal. And what was very interesting working with Adrian Newey was that within a month or so, you’d see why he is so good—because he looks at the most minute detail in a sentence to understand what he can and can’t do.

We took a very F1 philosophy with the headlamps, to show its beauty and engineering. These headlamps weigh 30 per cent less than the lightest headlamp we make on any sports car today. We thought we were very good and we are very good in the automated world but what was fascinating is how F1 just pushes this much harder with the rules.

(Related: There Are Only 10 Units Of This Aston Martin Car)

Tatler Asia
Above The Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar, created in partnership with Red Bull Racing's Adrian Newey. (Photo: Courtesy of Aston Martin)

Tell us about the development of Aston Martin Valkyrie with Red Bull Racing’s Adrian Newey
MN It is the most difficult project I’ve done in 20 years, because you are rediscovering new ways to do things. On the Valkyrie, we were pushing the aerodynamics so much that we had to go through the rule book and re-examine what is legal. And what was very interesting working with Adrian Newey was that within a month or so, you’d see why he is so good—because he looks at the most minute detail in a sentence to understand what he can and can’t do.

We took a very F1 philosophy with the headlamps, to show its beauty and engineering. These headlamps weigh 30 per cent less than the lightest headlamp we make on any sports car today. We thought we were very good and we are very good in the automated world but what was fascinating is how F1 just pushes this much harder with the rules.

(Related: There Are Only 10 Units Of This Aston Martin Car)

Topics