Book Review: SUPER SLOW by Stephane Janin

The automobile has been essential to development of the modern era. It also is both the most democratising of all modern-era inventions and simultaneously the most destructive (outside of certain weaponry we could name). The modern era lives the Olympic motto 'Citius, Altius, Fortius' (Faster, Higher, Stronger)- often to the detriment of the very people it was purported to serve — and all in the name progress. But must this always be so?

Stephane Janin, director of the GAC studio in Milan, has written and illustrated a new book incorporating his ideas and sketches for a new type of modernity- one that is slower, more efficient, and more life-affirming. We caught up with him during a very busy Milan Design Week and asked him about his ideas and his books (SUPER SLOW is accompanied by a compendium of his sketches) What follows is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation:

Car Design News: What was the genesis of the SUPER SLOW book and ideas?

Stephane Janin: The ideas in the book emerged from my sketchbooks of the last few decades. There was not defined point for starting the book or compiling the ideas — it just happened over time. With the encouragement of friends and colleagues, I decided to create a book. Compiling those ideas brought me to the title. Also, with the advent of AI, it seemed a good time to preserve these sketches for the future — although I did rework a few for the book.

CDN: What is the fundamental idea or ideas that are the foundation for your book?

SJ: The starting point for the book is the mastery of renewable energies in a post-oil era. Speed and power become secondary factors with efficiency the ultimate goal.

A new aesthetic must then be explored: the aesthetic of slowness. This is the SUPER SLOW project. It asks the question, What is really modern?

CDN: What is the primary point you would like to communicate about fast and slow?

SJ: I’m certainly not the only one thinking about these ideas — think about slow food, slow travel, slow fashion, etc. — these ideas areal over social media; quality versus quantity. The meaning of fast when I was a kid also meant modernity, the future. Now we question whether it is still modern being fast. AI can render an automotive concept in seconds. It may be fast, but is it modern? Is it really better to use all those kilowatt-hours to power a machine so that it can design a bumper? Perhaps a slower approach to modernity is better.

Also, some say that driving is no longer modern, we should have autonomous vehicles. But the energy embedded in those technologies is enormous. In our generation, we traveled with a car and a radio, the family climbed in and away we went. Not the same now with autonomy and on-board systems. So much more energy involved.

If the future is going somewhere with a minimum of energy, in a stylish way, a meaningful way, while making memories, maybe that is more modern than a car that is optimised for speed and full of high technology.

CDN: So, a fundamental question: Does modernity need to be fast?

SJ: Exactly, that’s the essential question. Don’t get me wrong, I love fast cars. But nowadays I enjoy Goodwood — the cars with such history, such character, and poor handling, sliding around the track.

CDN: Your career has taken you to some of the world’s great cities — London, Paris, Tokyo, Milan others. Have your experiences in these cities played a role in the development of SUPER SLOW?

SJ: Most definitely. I grew up in the suburbs of Paris and from there you can see the skyline, as the city sits in a kind of bowl. So even as a boy I was dreaming of Paris. I love cities. I love architecture, so I imagine a combination of cars and architecture. After all, cars are parked 95% of the time, viewing them as architecture is not so great a leap of imagination. Could you combine concepts of shelter (architecture), freedom, vehicles, mobility, and try to imagine something perfect? It’s utopian, of course, but worth considering.

CDN: Do you have a favorite city, or cities?

SJ: I love Paris, it’s a great city, a museum, totally opposed to cars, of course, but with a great culture. Tokyo is a great city; I worked there when I was at Nissan, commuting to Kyoto on the weekend, as my wife and son lived there. We still have a house there, Kyoto is such a wonderful place, it’s great to know that little wooden house is there awaiting our return.

CDN: Looking through your book and its underlying ideas sketches, I noticed its about systems as much as it is about objects. For instance, The house/car combination. As a couple, the represent a system. But they can separate and act as individual objects. Am I reading this correctly?

SJ: Yes, and you have perhaps noticed that there is not a lot of ‘styling’ in these proposals. They are more systems than a really strong design expression. They vehicles and environments are made up of simple functional elements, and their designs point to mobility and relationships between elements in the city. So yes, systems as much as objects of design.

CDN: You propose a number of vehicles in your book- from very personal vehicles all the way up to airships. What is your favourite design?

SJ: The airship is probably my favourite. I have visited the Zeppelin Museum on Lake Constance. The Zeppelins were so magnificent, so elegant and futuristic. It would be great to have them return, even on a more personal level. A place to live in the sky, at least temporarily.

CDN: It is interesting to contrast the Concorde, one the ultimate artifacts of modernity, with the Zeppelin. The Concorde was about speed, but interior was cramped — not as luxurious as we might think.

SJ: The Concorde’s true luxury was speed, the ability to cross the Atlantic in four or five hours. The Zeppelins were slower, but more elegant. The cabins were tiny, furniture was of aluminum or other lightweight materials. Lightweight was extreme luxury. Perhaps in a modern version there are larger cabins for families and larger windows to look out at the sky. Meals could be served in bentos to conserve weight and space.

Furniture would still be lightweight. The landscape and sky glide by. Slow luxury.

CDN: Which of your vehicle designs do you think would be the most impactful in the real world?

SJ: I have I noticed lately that the cruisers have a lot of potential. I have seen many projects that are starting to use this kind of technologies. Nowadays with the war on everything, even traveling seems to become very complicated. I guess to travel this this object can I think they almost ready mine is already outdated I designed that long time ago but now you see this project with this kind of sail turbine combined with a bit of motors, electricity. I think this is almost almost done, it is almost ready.

CDN: And it reminds us, does it not, that many of the great cities of the world are on water.

SJ: Yes, and the sea is critical for large shipments, which build businesses and trade empires. Think of Tokyo which was part of a closed Japan. But trade with Portuguese and Dutch traders (and later Americans) made Tokyo the largest city in the world.

CDN: Although I should ask you about vehicles, I’m fascinated by your house designs and the way they relate to transportation and the city as a whole. 

SJ: As I have said, I’m fascinated with architecture, and I love homes of modest size, but great elegance. I’m sure this comes from my years in Japan. Tadao Ando’s first house in Japan was a great influence. A simple row house. The exact opposite of Paris, though I am fascinated by the roofscapes in Paris. 

CDN: Despite the emphasis on new considerations about mobility and to a certain extent the city itself, there is no call for a restriction on movement in your book, correct?

SJ: No, there is no call to restrict mobility, but I want to elevate the experience. The Zeppelin airships of the 1930s were grand palaces floating above landscape. Now we have Ryanair and cramped jets. Speed, but nothing memorable. My book illustrates transportation in basic, functional shapes. But the goals are still the freedom of movement and doing that in a way that celebrates affirms life and travel. At the very least, we should have a discussion about that as a society.

CDN: At the scale of the city, what might be done to begin implementing the SUPER SLOW concept?

SJ: I would say developing small vehicles, including the interesting three-wheeler bicycles that we see in Copenhagen for families with children. New typologies of vehicles should be created. It should not be just SUVs and bicycles. And because they are slow vehicles, we can remove so many of the safety features we require for high-speed collisions. So new small, slower vehicles of all shapes and functions may be the place to begin.

CDN: Any final thoughts?

SJ: This book is about how we can re-imagine everything to make sure we can still visit the world to see its beauty, meet people, to enjoy the sights and the smells of a location. Beautiful pictures on a phone or in a book are no substitute for real travel, and at the end of the day, those journeys maybe more important that than design itself.

Stephane Janin’s website is https://www.sjanindesign.com/