Why the future of car interior textures has to go beyond just touch and focus on the whole experience
This year’s Car Design Review X Yearbook includes an in-depth interview about the evolving role of texture, with Marion Jaillant, Design Manager for Architexture Europe, Middle-East, Africa and South America.
“We want to explore how texture can be used not only for functional or aesthetic purposes,but how it can make people feel.”
Where do you see the future of texture within car interiors?
My feeling is that traditionally, textures were used to cover and mask the defects of the moulding process. Then they slowly became an artistic expression to enhance the branding of a company. But now I think it’s moving towards user experience. I feel those are the three big stages.
What research has led you to that conclusion?
Last year I went back to study for a Masters degree in Disability Design and Innovation and to explore the relationship between texture and user experience. My final project worked with users of prosthetics to see how the texture of a prosthetic limb could make the user have a better connection with it. Because sometimes people give up on their prosthetics, because they feel so ‘alien’.
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