We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative David Flores Loredo ("DFL").

David Flores Loredo is a passionate Engineer and Designer specialized in Musical Instruments Design and founder of Streamline Guitars. Highly influenced by the beautiful organic shapes of nature as well as by the fascinating fluidity, tension and speed of automotive design, he tries to project sculptural beauty, elegance and dynamism on all his designs. As a designer, he shapes the ideas into artistic concepts and sketches on a blank paper, but as an engineer he transforms them into real working objects through a complete creation process. He looks forward to continue designing the best electric guitars of the future.

David Flores Loredo Designs

We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by David Flores Loredo.

Designer Interview of David Flores Loredo:

DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?

DFL : I have always wanted to be engineer and designer because my passion for machines, vehicles and products came to me since I was a child and I have been 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 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.

DI: What is "design" for you?

DFL : 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.

DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?

DFL : I think that every kind of design is beautiful and interesting, but my passion is to design products and vehicles. Between all the possible products to design, the electric guitars are probably my favorite one.

DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?

DFL : 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.

DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?

DFL : A car key for the SEAT automotive brand.

DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?

DFL : 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.

DI: When do you feel the most creative?

DFL : 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.

DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?

DFL : 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.

DI: What makes a design successful?

DFL : 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.

DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?

DFL : 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.

DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?

DFL : 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.

DI: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?

DFL : 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.

DI: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?

DFL : 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.

DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?

DFL : 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.

DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?

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

DI: What skills are most important for a designer?

DFL : 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.

DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?

DFL : 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.

DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?

DFL : 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.

DI: What was your most important job experience?

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

DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?

DFL : I love to design vehicles, because I have always loved them and they are my greatest inspiration. Nevertheless, I also enjoy a lot designing products, specially electric guitars.

DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?

DFL : Design the next electric guitar and very probably start the production of the Eagle.

DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?

DFL : I develop my designs myself.

DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?

DFL : Yes. The next guitar model is under development.

DI: How can people contact you?

DFL : Just write me to floresloredo@gmail.com or call me at my phone number (0034) 660336109.