Design is emotion

Good design solves problems. Great design makes you feel.

The beautiful, long bonnet of the Jaguar E Type; the clean, geometric shapes of a Le Corbusier lounge chair; the classic cut and flamboyant colours of a vintage D&G smoking jacket.

All timeless designs that will still be celebrated when we are long gone. Why? Because all of them are capable of evoking emotion.

My own relationship with design goes deep. It began when I was a child in my father’s showroom, washing classic sports cars, like the E-Type and XK-120 Jaguars, the Aston Martin DB5 and the Ferrari Dino. I was too young to understand the technique that went into creating these iconic cars, but the excitement I felt being close to them has never left me.

That’s the true power of design. A memory, a feeling, that can last for decades. And, that’s why design has obsessed me, and driven our journey at CUPRA from the very beginning.

What is great design?

Design should not only follow function. Nor should it be ‘design for design’s sake’. The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle.

The first design style I fell in love with was Art Deco on my first visit to Germany in my early 20s. What impressed me was the use of design to create objects that transcended functionality to become something more; they became art. From a table lamp to a skyscraper, form becomes poetic, the sleek simplicity of every piece tells us a story about modernity. I’ve always been drawn to design that aspires to be unique, timeless and beautiful.

And I’ve also always wanted design to surprise me and to provoke my mind.

When I moved to Barcelona, I became captivated by an earlier movement that appealed to me because it makes us look at the world in a new way: modernisme, a style similar to Art Nouveau that was born in Barcelona in the late 19th century and gave us some of the most exuberant expressions of artistic design the world has ever seen, from the extraordinary Palau de la Música to the ironwork you can see on the lamps in Barcelona’s central streets (and of course, everything by that original Design Rebel: Antoni Gaudí).

I was lucky enough to have the chance to renovate a modernista apartment in Barcelona, discovering all the details and preserving as much of the original style as possible, while adding the contemporary touches that make it unique and different. Because design is also about evolution, connection and never standing still.

If I had to define great design in just a few words, perhaps that’s what I would choose to say: It has an emotional impact that makes us look at the world in a new way.

And that’s something we always seek to do at CUPRA. We create cars that are designed to challenge preconceptions and ask questions.

The CUPRA obsession

At CUPRA, we don’t hide behind design, we use it to make a statement about who we are. The design of every CUPRA says we are not about luxury or heritage. We are not about the future: We are about the here and now.

Our design also says where we come from. As Gaudí said: ‘Originality is about going back to your origins’. We are from Barcelona and our designs are inspired by the atmosphere of the city, from the Mediterranean blue and earthy copper tones, to the defiant proportions and lines that resonate with Barcelona’s bold, non-conformist spirit.

Because, at CUPRA, design is never just a means to an end: It’s a way to provoke emotion, stand out from the crowd and build relationships with our tribe.

That’s why we’re never afraid to take risks. If you want to test the limits, sometimes you have to go over them and push into new territories. The CUPRA DarkRebel showed us how far we can go.

It may not be to everyone’s taste, but when you want to create something unique, something with a powerful personality, you shouldn't try to please everyone. We don’t copy people or follow trends. We always choose our own path.

Design is also a story we tell across our whole brand, from our CUPRA City Garages, to our collaborations with brands outside the automotive world, like the lighting designers Marset or the sustainable jewellery brand MAM. Our design decisions are always consistent and coherent, the ‘red thread’ that runs through the brand and holds everything together.

But that doesn’t mean we need to repeat ourselves. We always need to keep moving. The thing about good design is that it ends up being copied and becoming ubiquitous. That’s when the time comes to rip it all up and start again. Creating great design is about being fearless and, sometimes, choosing the most radical solution.

Creating the new

When I joined SEAT, my first company car was a SEAT CUPRA Leon. I loved the way the car drove. But I certainly had a problem with the bright orange mirrors and wheels. The next day they were changed to black ones. Soon, we were exploring matte paint and then special models from ABT followed.

That was the starting point on a radical journey that continues, and which has led CUPRA to become the design-obsessed brand we are today.

Because an iconic car needs an iconic design. Our breakthrough came with the CUPRA Formentor. A car that challenged all the rules about what an SUV should look like, with strong lines, sculptural contours and radical proportions: A car with a clear identity that created a new design language. But, above all, a car that stands out and is full of character.

The CUPRA Formentor set us on a path that continues to this day. A path that is always guided by one unshakeable principle: never being afraid to push the boundaries.

The challenge of car design is to recreate emotion at scale. A car is something that we build a relationship with, so touch and feel is important. Often, mass production can lead to easy or standardised solutions. But, at CUPRA, every detail is essential. We need to be authentic and not try to make things look like something they’re not. Good design is honest design. We also need to ask ourselves how design can contribute to sustainability.

The meaning of design

Design is fundamentally about the meaning we give to the objects that surround us. The uniqueness of the experience we have with them, to the point that we even love their defects.?It’s not about perfection, it’s about the relationship with the object that makes design truly come alive.

Every design decision we make needs to be built on form, function and objective, alongside our ability to take it from idea to reality.

But, above all, every decision needs to ask the question: How does this make me feel?

I want some people to love what we do, but not everyone has to like it. I prefer to use design to provoke strong feelings, hit a nerve and trigger a reaction.

Because, in the end, people will forget what you did or what you said. But they’ll never forget how you made them feel.