Designed For Performance - Black auto designers

Black Enterprise, Nov, 2001 by Blair S. Walker

Latest Project: Currently working on designs for future Ford models.

Like the talents of most auto designers, Earl Lucas' talents surfaced early. The Dallas native was just 3 when he began to draw. But unlike most of his contemporaries, Lucas didn't devote the ink to just sketching automobiles. His passion was jewelry.

"The same design principles that are used to make [fine jewelry] are used to make cars." He wouldn't discover that until much later, when he attended the Center for Creative Studies College of Art and Design in Detroit (later renamed the College for Creative Studies). But the school's international reputation for auto design was lost on Lucas, who majored in crafts. After two years, he switched to industrial design.

Car design turned out to be "a little more competitive than I initially thought," Lucas recalls. "I stayed up many a night sketching, perfecting my technique. To this day, I still do that."

After graduating in 1994, Lucas interviewed at Ford and was turned down--twice. So he headed to the Lear Corp. in Southfield, Michigan, an automotive supplier that put him to work designing auto seats and door panels.

Three and a half years later, Lucas returned to Texas to join a firm that designed aircraft interiors. But the car business was "in my blood." So Lucas reapplied to Ford and was hired in 1999. The creativity Lucas has displayed in Ford's Dearborn, Michigan, design studio has found its way into the interiors of the 2001 Explorer and the last Z3 Escort.

CRYSTAL WINDHAM, 28

Title: Lead product designer

Company: General Motors

Latest Project: Currently working on designs for future Saturn products.

At General Motors, interior elements of the latest Chevrolet Impala and the four-door Saturn were dreamed up in part by Crystal Windham.

A seven-year GM employee and Detroit native, Windham knows of only two other women of color working in her profession.

A late bloomer by designer standards, Windham never thought she had artistic talent until a 10th-grade teacher saw some fashion and hair-design sketches she'd drawn. She was directed toward the Center for Creative Studies, where an instructor introduced her to auto design.

"It was a challenge, so I went for it," says Windham, wino regularly visits Detroit-area public schools to introduce black girls to car design. "They need to see someone in that position and be able to ask questions. Young girls aren't exposed to the field early enough."

In addition to creating the freshest designs, Windham keeps close tabs on the work of top furniture designers, stoking her creativity.

"I try to put myself in the mind of the customer," Windham explains. "When I'm creating a vision, I keep in mind that there are engineering and manufacturing constraints to deal with, but I try to let my creativity flow."

The best car designers expose themselves to the many facets of art. "They're open-minded and have a willingness to look at artistic ideas, regardless of where they come from," she adds.

ED WELBURN, 50

Title: Executive director of Corporate Brand Character Center