He plunged us with delight into a future we loved, built as much on science fiction as on automobile design executed through drawings that were as much licked on the level of imagination as on the level of realization. Syd Mead died at the age of 86. The future is orphaned.
When a designer talks about the origin of his passion, he often cites Paolo Martin’s Modulo concept cars or Gandini’s Stratos Zero and Carabo. However, all of them have been bathed, willingly or not, in the futuristic atmosphere sketched by Syd Mead.
The official Syd Mead website can be found here : http://sydmead.com/syd-mead-future-cities-exhibition-at-the-gallery-oo-depot/
Syd Mead is not a car designer, although he worked first for Ford in the late 1950s and then for Volvo. He also worked for a French giant: Air France. His fame comes above all from cinema, since he tackled the 7th Art through the “Science Fiction” side of things, notably with the film Tron, but also a very active participation in Blade Runner, where his futuristic vision was unequalled and inevitably influenced our look towards a future where Syd Mead guided us with strength, pleasure and bewitchment. Between utopia and, at times, a darker vision…
VIDEO OF SYD MEAD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL PROJECTS :
Of course, the lives of thousands of creative people and designers, car or not, the lives of millions of SF moviegoers, will not be quite the same from tomorrow. The future is orphaned and the void seems immense…
