>>Dirk Van Braeckel: My name is Dirk Van Braeckel
and I have worked in automotive design for more than 30 years.
Most recently, as Head of Design and Concepts for Bentley Motors.
[pause]
We're travelling in a bespoke Bentley Mulsanne. Bespoke is really giving
the customer a choice to have his own personal taste incorporated into the product,
in this case with the car.
>>Dylan Jones: People associate the UK and London with bespoke
because we have a history of craftsmanship, of tailoring. We're very good
at making things in a mass way, but also at adapting them to particular
personal use.
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: I'm going to meet two top designers of other areas
to see how they approach design, what is important in terms of the bespoke
aspect of the design work they do and how this reflects back to my work at
Bentley.
[pause]
>>Clive Darby: Hello Dirk
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: Pleasure to meet you.
>>Clive Darby: Let me put you in this.
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: It feels great. It feels great straight away.
>>Clive Darby: This is where bespoke really comes into play for me.
Small details -- it's the precision that really matters.
It's the discovery for a customer, at the end of the day, that feeds the passion.
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: So it really is about the delight factors that you can create.
>>Clive Darby: What is interesting about bespoke is that when you're working with
an individual, you're having to get to know that individual; how they act,
what they want out of something.
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: So it really is about drawing them in and
making them feel comfortable and working with professionals to get
the best possible results.
>>Clive Darby: That, for me as well in terms of the creative process
and working together with an individual, is the exciting stage.
Then you're on a journey together.
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: This is about ordering something to your liking,
which will be built, by hand, over several hundred hours in our case.
There are so many customers out there who want to enjoy something luxurious,
who want to be seen in the right car, in the right suit and we have to be
able to satisfy this demand worldwide.
>>Clive Darby: I agree, and that for me is really about the future of
bespoke. The future of bespoke is embracing this globally and internationally.
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: If I think of our brand Bentley, we sell a world car.
There are cultures there that we need to learn from, that we need to approach with
our bespoke capability and satisfy these customers as well.
[pause]
Bespoke is very important to Bentley. If it is not bespoke,
it is not special enough. It's fundamental to luxury products.
[pause]
>>Sebastian Wrong: This is a really excellent example of collaboration between
technology and aesthetics.
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: I've never seen a single piece of carbon fibre that
big, six metres long.
>> Sebastian Wrong: It's successfully taken a Formula 1 car positioned
on the middle of it.
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: On the middle of it?
>> Sebastian Wrong: Yes.
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: What is it about this city, London, do you think,
that drives so much innovation?
>> Sebastian Wrong: Creativity that comes from London is what makes London
truly unique and that is a slightly anarchic, can-do,
don't-care, cheeky independence: taking risks, experimentation.
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: Sebastian, what about the future?
>>Sebastian Wrong: The future of design is offering a service.
For me it's very important to be democratic about this.
It's one thing operating on the top end of the market, often I think
the biggest challenge as a designer is to create something which people
can really engage with and enjoy at a very good price-point.
It's terribly important not to lose sight of that in an age of mass-production.
[pause]
>>Dylan Jones: As technology speeds up it will be possible
to have something produced for each individual. So, bespoke will become
a very democratic process and will have a very democratic feel to it
because I think in the future it will be possible to make everything
particular to the customer, to the consumer.
>>Sebastian Wrong: The attention to detail in here is phenomenal.
This is just extreme. How long would you say a car like this should last?
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: More than 90% of Bentleys ever made are still on the road today.
>>Dylan Jones: I think the marriage of design, provenance and hi-tech fits perfectly
because that's what everyone is aspiring to. You want a new Bentley
but you don't want the new Bentley to drive like the Bentley of 50 years ago.
You want the new Bentley to drive like a car does now, or even like a car's
going to drive in ten years' time.
>>Dirk Van Braeckel: A luxury product has to appeal from the emotional side.
It's not necessarily a rational purchase, it's an emotional one.
It's something you really long for, something you want, and you want to put your own personal stamp on it.
That's why bespoke is really part of the Bentley offering and has been since day one.
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