Frank Stephenson, was born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco to an American father and a Spanish mother. At the age of 11 his family moved to Istanbul, Turkey followed by 2 years in Madrid, Spain where he graduated from high school. After high school Stephenson spent six years competing professionally in motocross. His passion for drawing and automobiles since his youth led him to study automotive design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California from 1982 to 1986. Stephenson has been the director of design for MINI, Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo and McLaren before moving on to Lilium Aviation to lead the design team creating flying taxis, known as eVTOL aircraft, as well as being Design Master at Suning Intelligent Technology, a major Chinese technology company. Additionally, he is the design director of his independent design studio, Frank Stephenson Design, an award winning team which designs and collaborates with companies world-wide seeking success through creative innovation. Stephenson speaks English, Italian, German, and Spanish fluently and is an international speaker on many design-related and motivational subjects. Since 2010 he has been listed in Debretts People of Today.
Design career
Stephenson’s design career spans several of Europe's best known automotive companies. He began at Ford's design studio in Cologne, Germany, where he penned some of the distinctive features of the Ford Escort RS Cosworth, in particular the large double rear spoiler. He later moved to BMW where he spent 11 years, eventually leading to an appointment as Chief Designer. His design of the new MINI Cooper launched at the Paris Auto Show in 2000 led to the award-winning rebirth of the brand and a new generation of MINI models. In 2003 the MINI Cooper was the first European car to win the prestigious North American Car of the Year award in 2003. Also while at BMW, Stephenson designed the first BMW SUV, the now iconic BMW X5. In July 2002, Stephenson was appointed the first ever Director of Ferrari-Maserati Concept Design and Development in Maranello and Modena, Italy. His work with this department included the design of the Maserati GranSport, Maserati MC12, Ferrari FXX and Ferrari F430. His work with this department included the design of the Pininfarina's work on the Maserati Quattroporte, Maserati GranTurismo and Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. Stephenson's success with the Ferrari and Maserati designs led to his appointment to head of the mother company's Fiat, Lancia, and Commercial Vehicle Styling Centre in Turin, Italy on 2006. He was tasked with rebuilding the struggling Fiat brand, where he directed the styling of the Punto, Bravo and translated Roberto Giolito's 2004 Fiat Trepiùno concept into the production 5002007, Punto and Bravo. In 2007 he was made Head of Centro Stile Alfa Romeo design. Stephenson left the Italian group in April 2008 to become Design Director at McLaren Automotive where he created a new design language and oversaw the design of the new range of McLarens, MP4-12C, P1, 675LT, 570S and 720S.. While at McLaren he drew inspiration for the P1 partially from a sailfish that he saw when on holiday in Miami. Stephenson left McLaren Automotive in 2017 and was rumoured to return to the BMW Group to head the design team at MINI. The rumours turned out to be unfounded; upon leaving McLaren, Stephenson founded his own design studio, Frank Stephenson Design Consultancy. In 2018, Stephenson also joined the German aviation company Lilium as head of Product Design and Suning Smart Technology as Design Master. Stephenson continues to work on many different cross-industry design projects, products and design solutions. He is dedicated to taking on design challenges that will be game changers in various industries that the greatest positive impact on the lives of many. In 2019 a film documentary about his work and career, titled Chasing Perfect, produced by Lionsgate and Salon Pictures, and directed by Helena Coan, was released globally.
Design style
Stephenson says that he looks everywhere for inspiration and is always sketching. He adds that he is "never bored" and that just walking down the street one can find inspiration from so many things. His McLaren office is full of inspirational objects and images. Stephenson also says that he looks to the animal kingdom for design, adopting what's termed biomimicry for his design inspiration. Having a deep passion for biology and evolution, he tries to "find the principles in nature that make organisms be successful in their environment. Stephenson's design process progresses from sketch pad to computer graphics, to clay models, and finally to prototype models. He says the advantage of working with clay models is that you can see and feel the designed surfaces in three dimensions, embedding the product with the human touch. Curiosity, research and innovation are key drivers to his design values.
