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In automotive design, there are masterpieces that go beyond mere function, and embody elegance and innovation in each of their curves and contours. At the pinnacle of this artistic craftsmanship is the Cadillac CELESTIQ, a meticulously handcrafted luxury vehicle that redefines the boundaries of automotive excellence. . We recently had the privilege of delving into the visionary spirit of this automotive marvel, Erin Crossley, Design Director, Cadillac CELESTIQ, for the Design Rollout.
During his interview, we explore his commented adventure and the intricacies of making the Cadillac CELESTIQ. We were going to gain a deeper understanding of the fusion of art and engineering that defines Cadillac’s quest for reimagined luxury. We also embarked on an adventure in the world of luxury. She explored automotive innovation and discovered what makes Erin Crossley not only a “superpowered sister,” but also a trailblazer shaping the long-term of American luxury.
We’re glad to have you here, especially in the wake of Women’s History Month, because you’re a true storyteller. Tell us a little bit about your adventure with the Cadillac CELESTIQ’s design director.
It’s been a pretty exciting adventure, and I like to say it’s an adventure I might never have predicted when I was a young entry-level designer at General Motors Design. In fact, I started working as a Cadillac color and finish designer about 23 years ago. Hace, fresh out of design school. I may never have imagined this. It’s anything I stumbled upon by chance.
When I was in school, I thought I wanted to be a car designer, so I was on my initial project. I said, “Oh, I need to go to art school and I think I need to design cars. “
I started reading commercial design, and about a year later, I was like, “Hmm!When did we start designing cars? Because we were doing all kinds of things and probably learning the basics, which I’m sure are important. “I like, you know, this just doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t feel natural, so I shifted my attention to something called surface trend design, which is a lot of handmade trend design – think upholstered wall coverings, lots of hand. painting. It’s just a very practical art that I loved, and I had forgotten about the automobile. I like, “yes, that would have been great. ” But maybe that’s not my thing.
General Motors came here for an interview at my university. I don’t forget the sign, it said that “they didn’t just need to see commercial designers”. So I thought, ‘Well, hey, we know, you never know. ‘” So, I’m going to sign up for an interview and see what they have to say,” and I brought my portfolio. I had an interview with their team and they asked me, “Oh, have you ever heard of color and finish design?He hadn’t. So I thought, “Oh, tell me more about that. And that’s how I started that adventure to eventually become a color and finish designer right after graduating from school. It immersed me in this. ” The flip side of car design, which had much more to do with color, fabrics, and textures.
I grew up with that organization and design, eventually fast-forward to more than 20 years, and Cadillac is beginning to enter this flagship vehicle, where colors, materials, and craftsmanship are paramount to design. Fortunately, my executives reached out to me on the shoulder and said, “Hey, we’d like to lead the design of this vehicle. We think you’d be smart and compatible for this role. Do you need to?”
If there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout my career with everything that’s been really important, it’s that it’s what I least expected and what I was most afraid of.
Wow, I love it when you say yes! My motto for 2024 is “Say ‘yes’ to adventure!”And it’s in each and every facet of life. When you say yes, you get the unforeseen and you’re a story maker. You do those things that catapult you into places and spaces you would never have imagined. So, I congratulate you.
As you were telling your story, I heard you say that you were looking to be a car designer. However, when you were little, did you play with cars?
I’ve enjoyed cars. My parents are passionate about cars. I enjoyed the art of the automobile, not necessarily the mechanics, but I have an idea of automobiles as an art form. I said my parents really like cars. We went to car shows when I was a kid, and of course, very small car shows. I come from a very small town in upstate New York. It was anything that was part of the things I saw growing up. He also enjoyed art. This has been my favorite elegance in school. I enjoyed drawing painted cars.
When I thought I wanted to go to art school, I also thought, but I need to have a career, so I don’t need to be an artist, so to speak. I wanted to use creativity and art as a way to get into the arts.
And what a glorious career you’ve had. You’re now at the forefront of automotive innovation. Lately you’ve been the Design Director of the Cadillac CELESTIQ. Can you share a moment and/or enjoy your career that sparked this passion?What did that spark say, this is precisely what it intended to do?
Wow! That’s a very smart question. I don’t know if it was an express moment. When they described to me the role of color and embellishments, I thought that’s all I love about art and design: it’s the colors, it’s the textures, it’s the materials. And I think one of the things that I liked from the beginning was that it was so multifaceted that every day was different.
You paint with many other colors, materials, and bureaucracy of artistic expression. But it’s also multifaceted in terms of the groups you paint with. So it’s not just about design. You work with marketing teams and engineering teams. It was very rich and full of varied experiences. You’ve never been bored. There was something new and exciting to learn. It’s anything that seemed really natural to me as soon as I got into this profession.
When you led those groups and took on leadership roles, it required more of a combination of creativity, vision, and strategic thinking. How have your past reports and influences shaped your technique for designing leadership, that is, guiding the progress of this revolutionary vehicle?CELESTIQ?
Leadership is about combining a lot of things, whether it’s things like the physical parts of a vehicle, things that involve a giant number of people, or many other departments. It’s about mentoring a team and bringing everyone together around a common cause.
What I’ve learned from my role in color and trim is that everyone has concepts about colors and materials, what looks stylish and what matches, what’s in style and what’s not. And as a color and trim designer, he was racing to bring other people together around a common vision, to the vision of the program, and to be able to build that network with which to negotiate. You listen to other people’s minds and then show them that you are listening, but you also want to unite them to a not unusual cause. So I think the very nature of the color and finish plays a role, allowing you to manage this type of multifaceted task and combine all the elements of the vehicle around a not unusual cause. topic, it helped.
For me it’s a team sport. I get a little worried when other people give me the CELESTIQ because it’s like, “Oh, I’m one of many. “Yes, I’m at the helm, but I couldn’t do it without the amazing team of people who help bring this vehicle to life.
I like that. Congratulations to you and your team on the magnificent structure of this vehicle. It’s amazing.
I need to stay here as a trailblazing woman, because that’s who you are. But you’re in a historically male-dominated industry. There is no doubt that your career, your adventure, has many demanding situations and triumphs. Watch out for at least one of the obstacles you encountered along the way and how you overcame that obstacle to succeed in your career?
Yes. In many ways, I feel like I’ve been very lucky in my professional career because the color and detail studio is probably the most female-dominated organization in the world of automotive design. I was lucky to have a very strong female leader from the beginning of my career. We reached a point of mutual acceptance and she really stood up for me. She was a champion for me. I think she was very favorable to me. She gave me this first opportunity that she really didn’t expect. It was very scary when she sent me to Australia to run the color and finishing studio. She didn’t expect that. I didn’t think she was up to this. And it was a really challenging role because although I still had a connection with her, I was far from being under her wing. I had to pass out and lead. I was one of the few female leaders there. I was a new leader. I was a stranger to them and it was a big challenge for me. When I moved there, my first child was only a year old, so he was also a first-time mother and I began this new task in a foreign place; in my first leadership role; On the other side of the world. But honestly, this role was a real turning point for me.
I think some other component depends to a large extent on the creation of that network and the fact that others accept its judgment. Many of those other people, whose acceptance I had to earn, were men who worked in other organizations. . I’ve been able to create some amazing allies. A lot of those lead engineers, very high-level people and other roles, started advocating for me because I had built that point of buy-in with them. Many companies are necessarily “based on other people. ” It’s about “recruiting” other people, especially when you’re applying in a very subjective field. You have to get other people to understand that your subjective opinion is the higher subjective opinion, or at least that [your higher subjective opinion] comes from a position of experience. It’s not just frivolous,. . . Because I like blue-type spaces. There really is a reasoning behind this.
Yes, reasoning, degrees, education, wisdom, and, like you, experience. It’s a very delicate balance when working in a male-dominated and highly subjective industry. Congratulations on earning the respect of your colleagues, because it’s huge.
Now let’s move on to the American Black Film Festival awards that just took place in March of this year. You were there with the Cadillac team as CELESTIQ.
Tell us about this show and the importance of this event. Why is it vital to have CELESTIQ there and on similar occasions across the country, the nation, and the world?
I think that’s vital because we need to position Cadillac to be identified beyond the auto industry. We need to position Cadillac as an art form. We communicate that CELESTIQ is something out of this world and that it enjoys this popularity in the art world, not only in the world. automotive world. We align ourselves with occasions like the ABFF because they are positioned to showcase excellence in their respective boxes. Cadillac needs to be noticed for achieving excellence in its box and beyond. So, I think there’s a big connection there.
One of the things I think about the participants. I was very dazzled, so to speak, hunting around this room. Part of me says, in a very ambitious way, “. . . I hope you will be amazed or amazed when you see CELESTIQ. “It’s a very exclusive vehicle. It’s a one-of-a-kind, custom-built flagship vehicle that not many other people have seen. It’s about seeking mutual respect from other people who have a great reputation in their field. Like Cadillac, it expects to have a great reputation in our field.
Let’s take a closer look at CELESTIQ and its physical design: it’s very personalized, very personalized, and supernatural. Each of those cars is handmade at GM’s Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, a departure from traditional production methods. Does this technique align with Cadillac’s vision of luxury and craftsmanship?
From the point of view of luxury craftsmanship, to balance the precision of machines and the craftsmanship of craftsmanship, the point of detail that can only be achieved through the hand is incredible. I think it’s a fair balance between the technical precision of 3D published portions and the manual precision needed to beautifully align the panels of an interior, so that they line up perfectly. That’s what we’re going to create with the CELESTIQ, because we built it by hand at a much slower pace, with a lot of attention to detail. The most important point of attention to detail is that we need to accomplish things that we wouldn’t accomplish if we did a bunch of them a day.
It’s extraordinary! With 3D published parts, craftsmanship, and a highly customized character, all of this is a testament to how good this vehicle looks to work.
I know we’re running out of time. I have a lot of questions for you, besides about 3D printing, how many cars do you build per day?How long does it take to build each vehicle? But we’re going to have to go back for some questions. Another interview to get the answers.
However, I need to end with this last question: as Cadillac reimagines the long-term of American luxury, what role does CELESTIQ play in shaping that vision?How does it reflect the brand’s identity and aspirations?
It’s vital for Cadillac to have a true flagship vehicle, a true north star for our logo that all products aspire to be. I think that’s why CELESTIQ is so vital to our logo: elevating the logo to this pinnacle of global popularity in design. . Something that, even if you buy some other vehicle of our logo, there is still that ambitious halo effect of a product like the CELESTIQ.
But there’s also this detail of everything we’re told when making CELESTIQ: all the innovations, manufacturing, and new fabrics we’re told to combine and integrate into the car. We’ll be able to tap into that information and have a massive effect on the logo as a whole and a trickle-down effect on the details that will help drive the rest of the products. We will continue to push CELESTIQ and, as CELESTIQ grows, the rest of the logo. it will evolve with it.
Thank you again for this glorious interview. We appreciate that you are a “superpowered sister”, that you are making women’s history, and that you have given birth to this beautiful handmade vehicle, the CELESTIQ. Before you go, tell us: where can we continue your journey?Where can I find more information?
I’m on LinkedIn with Erin Crossley, it’s pretty easy to find. I love connecting with other people through this site. From Cadillac’s perspective, you can follow our Cadillac adventure on Cadillac’s media site.
Thanks a lot.
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