July 31, 2006 - Ingolstadt, Germany – It only seems right that a Canadian transportation designer would cut his teeth with a snowmobile company. And that’s exactly the path Montréal native Dany Grand took to get to where he is today working at the Audi Design Centre. Known as the ‘five-metre man” because of his work on such recent large Audis as the A8 luxury sedan and the new Q7 premium sports-utility-vehicle, after graduating from the prestigious Royal College of Art in London, England, Garand did a couple of stints at Bombardier designing SeaDoos and SkiDoos before settling in at Audi over six years ago:
 
At what point in your life did you decide you wanted to be a designer?
I saw my destiny when I was 18 years old. I was always drawing cars when I was a kid, but I got really involved more as a hobby. Linked to that unreachable dream, when I was 18 I saw the Lotus Esprit in 1978 in Montreal. Designed by [Giorgetto] Guigiaro, I thought this is something fantastic. I bought all the Road & Tracks, and Car and Drivers—all the magazines. Every time there was Lotus in the title, I was buying the article. At a certain point, I was trying to model with plastiscene in my bedroom a Lotus Esprit in a small format based on these [magazine] photos. This led me to participate in Expo ’86 in Vancouver. With the University of Sherbrooke, we presented a car. That was my first attempt as a designer to create a prototype and it won a few awards there. One of the jurors was Tony Rudd, chief engineer at Lotus. I asked to meet him and ended up getting invited to the Lotus plant in Norwich, England. I then met with Peter Stevens, the Lotus designer, so the Lotus that I own today is a tribute to this.
 
Before you took transportation design at the Royal College of Art, did you have any role models?
Yes. There was a designer, Mr. Sam LaPointe, who was for many years a designer at Bombardier in recreational products. He took me under his wing and kick-started me in the right direction. My father gave me the love of things automotive because he is a mechanic himself, Mr. LaPointe gave me the spiritual kick to be a designer
 
You’ve cited architecture as one of your influences for your car designs. Are there any specific architectural styles or architects that inspire you?
Not specific architects. We see the Lloyd’s building in London that tries to isolate the living cell in the middle of the building and then all of the technical aspects on the periphery. This was an interesting analogy we can use to make a car. This was a big influence on my work on the A8, for example. But today, I am trying to look more about what’s happening around me. When I travel in Europe I try to look at it with fresh eyes. I’ve been away from North America now for a while, so when I’m at home, I also see things with fresh eyes.
 
Other influences?
Of course, we look at the other car brands as we try to analyze our own work. It’s difficult to pinpoint where we source our ideas. I try to pick up the emotional reaction when I see products. I’ll see a nice sculpture or a big building or a small house. The homogeneity of a garden, how are things placed. Is it  busy, is it crowded, is it airy or spacey? The aspect of a garden is expressing an emotion—peaceful or hectic or busy—and I try to observe that. It’s also very important to know as a designer what people expect from a stereotype. For example, Rolex is in the upper echelon, established. People say, ‘I have to have a Rolex.’ It’s not a question of if I should buy a Rolex, but when. This is one example. Mercedes is also very established, Bang and Olufsen sound systems, Big Bertha golf clubs. A lot of things are defined as socially accepted elements in different slices of society, and we need to be attentive to this to find comparable items with new vehicles and the next step. When everybody has a Rolex, what is the next cool thing to have?
 
How important is to have an international staff on the Audi design team?
Working on the Q7, obviously, as a Canadian, I know more about the life in Canada [with an SUV] than my counterparts in Germany. I can be more sensitive about maple syrup, lakes, mosquitoes or how laid-back Canadians are compared to our American neighours. These things are harmless, but they are part of the Canadian life. When I work together, say with the German or Japanese designers, we all come to a happy middle point with the final product.
 
- John LeBlanc, Publisher, www.straight-six.com

© National Post 2005. This article originally appeared in The National Post's Driving.