Throughout the summer we’ve had our eyes on the skies, talking about all things aviation. But now, the Oshkosh tarmac is behind us, and SEMA 2022 is on the horizon.

So…can we talk about cars for a minute? Or maybe for the next two months?

Although our studio has historically specialized in aerospace design, the cofounders of Design EyeQ, Tina and Ray Mattison, both identify as car enthusiasts. In fact, their collective interest in cars has been a boon for the studio, especially when designing luxury plane interiors.

Tina, the president of Design EyeQ, has been drawn to German-made cars since she was a teenager. She first became infatuated with the Volkswagen Beetle (the perfect vehicle for the free-spirited), but as her love of cars matured, she started to appreciate German cars for their speed, elegance, and immaculate interiors. Tina curates the colors and materials of all DEQs custom interiors, so following automotive interior trends is her forte.

Her favorite cars include the Porsche 911 (in her own words, “a classic sports car that is still cute and little,”) and the Volkswagen GTI, which looks like a hatchback “but will blow most cars out of the water.” Tina is currently the proud owner of an Audi, but she does have a dream car: the Porsche Singer 911, a refinished vintage masterpiece that is almost too pretty to drive.

Ray, the lead designer at DEQ, has always been steeped in car culture.

Not only was he born and raised in Detroit (AKA Motorcity), but his dad built show cars. There was always a car on the rotisserie in their garage, sometimes stripped all the way down to the skeleton to be acid dipped. Ray remembers when Gran Turismo was released on PlayStation, he and his buddies really started to develop loyalties to car manufacturers like Chevrolet, Dodge, or Ford. Movies like Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) and The Fast and the Furious (2001) further merged car culture with popular culture.

That era of car enthusiasm cemented Ray’s interest in pursuing industrial design as a career -- well, that and the fact that he was deeply involved in his own custom car project; a single-seat ‘94 Camaro with an Xbox where the sound system should’ve been. Practical? No. Fun? Yes. Nowadays, Ray drives a lifted Jeep Wrangler. It’s both fun and practical.

DEQ & Automotive Design

Our studio has worked on some very cool projects in the automotive sphere. We’ve designed Jeep parts with Motor City Aftermarket (a Caterpillar® subsidiary), dreamed up concept cars like the DEQ Dodge Demon, created wheels that maximize the mileage of electric vehicles, and helped build a slammed show truck that will hopefully make it to SEMA someday. There have been some car-adjacent projects, too, like designing a wheeled material handler that looks and feels like a Cadillac.

In the future, we would love to work closely with custom-builders in automotive, designing car interiors or doing CAD surfacing. We’re also interested in becoming tastemakers in the field of electric vehicles, as car interiors begin to feel more and more like smart living rooms.

Want to talk cars with us?

Give us a shout out on LinkedIn, Facebook, or contact our studio directly. You can also read more of our blog and check out our design process.

Can We Talk Cars? Yes, Always

Throughout the summer we’ve had our eyes on the skies, talking about all things aviation. But now, the Oshkosh tarmac is behind us, and SEMA 2022 is on the horizon.

So…can we talk about cars for a minute? Or maybe for the next two months?

Ray, the lead designer at DEQ, has always been steeped in car culture.