Inside the CMF strategy for bespoke EV restomods

Silverstone-based Lunaz, the EV restomod company, has a unique CMF approach for every commission, working with the customer to bring their vision to life. Unlike large scale OEMs that are confined by mass market scalability and economics, the company has the flexibility to explore more ambitious designs. Hayley Hunter, CMF consultant at Material In Mind who works with Lunaz where she was formerly a senior designer explains how Lunaz looks at CMF. 

Car Design News: How do you approach material selection? 

Hayley Hunter: We use fabrics from Kvadrat, Rubelli, leathers from Bridge of Weir, Townsend and Garrett, suppliers that typically service the interiors industry. We’re always endeavouring to get the best materials because we want them to last for the next 50 to 60 years. I think for a long time in automotive, the perception was that fabric was a lower quality option and leather was more premium. That idea has been turned on its head over the past five or six years. 

Five years ago, sustainability was the first thing on people’s minds. Now, people are being more open to what materiality looks and feels like. We use carpets in pretty much all our vehicles made from Econyl and Seaqual yarn which is made from recycled plastic from the ocean and recycled PET bottles diverted from ocean waste. People were really interested in that from a sustainability perspective, but now they touch it and they’re excited about it because it feels like a silk carpet and it’s not. 

CDN: How have you been experimenting with CMF recently? 

HH: We’ve had specific requests from clients which is really exciting because it’s pushed us further. One client wants mother of pearl on the ends of every single switch, so we’re doing a ribbed knurling around the sides and putting the mother of pearl on the ends. We’re exploring how we can use that on things like the gear knob and horn push, to make areas where you engage with the car more exciting from a material perspective. It’s quite a brittle material so it’s hard to work with.

One of the other things we’ve been looking at is how we incorporate fabrics into areas on the seat a bit differently. Where we typically just do a full leather seat, we've bought wool fabric through onto the outer shoulders, so when you're opening the door, your first impression is that textile on the side of the seat and we match that with the door cards as well so it runs through the interior in a fluid motion. 

CDN: What interior trends have you noticed? 

HH: One of the trends that’s coming through is this patina of time. We’ve been able to use more materials that age. A client, who’s specifying our first Defender, requested an untreated copper, so as that wears and is exposed to the air and water from using it as a shooting vehicle, it will oxidise. We’ve got small copper accents on the exterior and then quite a large proportion on the interior. We’re also trialing a saddle leather floor because he likes how that looks as it wears over time. 

CDN: How are you using hard materials like metal and wood? 

For some of the Aston Martins we’re doing, we’ve started using real sterling silver for the switches. I want to look into using real rose gold as well. We’re creating this ladder of options where you start with chrome and anodised finishes, then you can move up to different finishes like black chrome and black anodising, going all the way up to solid materials like rose gold. 

We’ve also been looking into more organic woods that have more fluidity than some of the herringbone wood veneer we’ve been offering. When I was at Milan Design Week, I was really surprised to see a lot of ‘70s style wood seems to be coming back again, like walnut burl and high gloss finishes. It’s nice to see the more traditional hard wood veneers coming back again because it really matches what we’ve been doing on the Bentleys and the Jaguars. 

CDN: How are you using new materials and finishes while maintaining the heritage feel of classic cars? 

HH: We’re using bespoke real metal sprays where we’re going to be working with soft hand brushed finishes to give a bit more movement and depth to the components. We’ll use this on switches, hard furniture in the doors and even little things like the headrest posts. 

Using these sprays allows us to put it on different forms that you wouldn’t be able to create in solid metal if you don’t have access to a five axis milling machine. It means you can spray it over the top of 3D printed forms and we can be more experimental with the shape without having to compromise on the actual finish. It’s used a lot in architecture where there are weight considerations on the exterior of a building, so for us where weight is a big thing with electric cars, it’s another weight saver. 

Also, we’re looking into embossing, debossing, embroidery and etching to add an extra layer of personalisation. I like the idea of taking away and removing material rather than adding things. There’s a power in restraint and being purposeful about where you’re putting things.