Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryan Thompson.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Bryan Thompson Bio:
Update: BT is currently fighting pancreatic cancer, but the doctors are hopeful that a cure is in the cards for him. His current painting is inspired by his efforts to win health, and depicts a flying sedan in purple, the official color of pancreatic cancer. The painting will be offered with the others in the series with proceeds going to benefit research for cure.
Designer and Media Consultant Bryan Thompson has spent nearly two decades developing a broad and varied portfolio. Beginning his career at Nissan, he designed Nissan’s first full-size truck interior for the Titan and the exterior themes for both the NV Concept and Productions vans. He also wrote a letter to the president of Airstream, maker of iconic American recreational vehicles, that eventually landed him a collaboration resulting in the Nissan / Airstream designed Basecamp and the confidence to pursue opportunities for his own consultancy.
Now a full-time independent designer, Thompson continues to work with Airstream, designing the second generation BaseCamp and the Nest campers, among others. His automotive clients include Volvo/Mack Trucks, Honda, Subaru as well as luxury interiors for Brazilian company Embraer’s executive jet range. Most recently he led design development for autonomous start-ups Zoox, Nuro and Pebble, Self Parking Camping Trailer. Beyond transportation design, Thompson’s creative repertoire spans commercial interiors, environment and set design for music videos and commercials, as well as design journalism for a number of media outlets, including ABC’s “Good Morning America,” BravoTV, NBC/Universal.
Bryan Thompson is also the creator of the SHINE Project, a professional car designer and a survivor of domestic violence. He has designed cars for Nissan, campers for Airstream, and also private planes. He is a Beverly Hills-based philanthropist, raising money for causes that benefit the LGBTQ community. Thompson says, “As someone who has emerged from a physically abusive relationship, I am learning through The Shine Project that this issue is much more common and overlooked in the gay community than we realize.
Through this project, I hope to raise awareness, give back to the people who helped me, and show that we are all brighter than the darkness of violence.”
BryanThompsonDesign.com
1. SCHOLARSHIP in his name:
https://www.ccsdetroit.edu/donate/scholarships/bryan-thompson-transportation-design-scholarship/
2. Painting series: “Do You Remember Flying Cars?”
“Do You Remember Flying Cars?”
@DoYouRememberFlyingCars
https://www.bryanthompsondesign.com/bt-shop
My illustrations explore an alternative 1970s where we had flying cars.
In this world, we discovered and monetized flying car technology in about 1972, while in the midst of the world’s context at the time: Large, American ponderous platforms, new federal safety regulation, and a looming fuel embargo crisis. Some people call this era “The Malaise Era” but I call it one of the most beautiful times in the history of car design.
These illustrations depict this fictional world in about 1986, after these cars have become old, under appreciated, often disused, but ultimately still beautiful.
Influenced by my 20 years as an automotive designer for Citroën, Nissan, Subaru, Honda, Volvo and more, the designs are influenced by my mentors in the industry who were often former General Motors, Ford and Chrysler designers. You can find nods to luminary talent like Jerry Hirshberg, Tom Semple, Doug Wilson, Tom Matano, Alfonso Albaisa, Diane Allen, and many more in my work.
This series will culminate with a gallery opening and proceeds from the sales will go to benefit the Bryan Thompson Endowed Scholarship managed by College for Creative Studies, which has just given its first award in summer 2020.
Please enjoy as I sow my process, my inspiration, and my love for automotive design.
Design Everything!
3. Painting Series: “Behind Door Number Three!”
I’m delighted to introduce my newest art series, “Behind Door Number Three!”
The series is about gratitude.
It’s about the moment of winning a humble vehicle that many of us could never afford to purchase for ourselves, but in the candy-colored televised instant of being given a car as a prize, the excitement is heightened to ecstatic levels.
Each piece is a lenticular composition showing the moment that a contestant wins a vehicle. The double sided construction allows the viewer to live that moment repeatedly as though it were happening live.
The series is meant to tap into the pop cultural experiences we all share of watching someone win, and sharing in that joy, dreaming of it happening to us.
“Behind Door Number 3!” showcases humble, everyday cars and the thrill of average people having an otherworldly experience. It’s about feeling a bit of that joy coming into our own lives through the magic of tv.
My technique is inspired by the pop art greats like Warhol and Lichtenstein, and my years as an automotive designer.
…And from hours and hours watching a beloved game show.
Instagram Profile: https://www.instagram.com/behinddoornumber3/
More about BT
What energizes you outside of work?
Bodybuilding, Painting, and Working with Talented Youth.
Bodybuilding is like the ultimate design project, painting is where I go to dream, and philanthropy work helps me pay it forward.
Here are three projects I started and am currently involved in that mean a great deal to me:
1. A scholarship I created for LGBT Design Students at The College for Creative Studies: https://https://www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/donate/scholarships/bryan-thompson-transportation-design-scholarship/
2. The Shine Project: A photography project that raises funds and awareness for domestic violence recovery programs at The LGBT Center: https://donate.lalgbtcenter.org/secure/shine
3. My “Do You Remember Flying Cars?” series of paintings: http://www.bryanthompsondesign.com/bt-shop
If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?
Flying
What trend do you hope makes a comeback?
The Bench Seat.
People spend a lot of time in seats in cars and campers. They don’t always have the words to articulate to each other exactly how they feel, but a bench seat lets you put your arm around someone special, and everything is okay.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
During my freshman year in college, I discovered that my stepfather had fraudulently taken out student loans in my name and kept the money. While the realization was devastating, it also shook my system and inspired me to make an abrupt change in my life path, which ultimately led to my career as a car designer.
I had wanted to become an automotive designer since childhood but had no idea how to achieve the goal.
I had started to investigate an exchange program in France where students at my university could study abroad. But when I approached the program management and they informed me that I already had this debt my stepfather had created, it was also communicated that I could not afford the program and was ineligible for financial aid. I sat in my dorm room and literally screamed at the sky. But then, when my senses returned to stable, I realized something: This was either going to be the life event that defined my excuse for not achieving my dream or simply an obstacle to overcome.
So I dropped out of college, sold my car, and went to France anyway, on my own.
While there, I lived in a camping trailer and paid my rent by replacing brakes in a Citroen garage. Monthly, I would sneak onto trains and go to every car design studio I could think of to ask the simple question whose answer seemed to be an ethereal gossamer illusion: How do I become a car designer?
It was after several long train trips across Europe, with no results and with no one willing to see me, that I found myself sleeping on a park bench in Turin, Italy, with my little cheap suit in a bag. That morning, I woke up, refreshed myself the best I could, and went to sit in the lobby of Centre Stile Fiat, where I refused to leave until I could meet an executive. That day, my life changed, as the then-design director, Peter Davis, saw something in me and spent the rest of his afternoon with me, telling me everything I needed to know. In short, I did everything he said and got accepted to the schools he recommended. I remember he told me not to draw cars but rather people. So I went back to my trailer and proceeded to build a portfolio of sketches I made sitting in the local bathhouses, drawing men frolicking. To this day, that portfolio is some of my best work.
To put a bow on this story, years later, when I was working for Nissan as a car designer, I called my mom. I told her that nothing had been done about the money my stepdad stole and that I had the forged signatures and had hired an attorney who was confident the man would go to jail for the crime. Two days later, I received a check for the total amount with interest. For me, this was a professional and spiritual triumph in that I had achieved my dream despite someone taking advantage of me, and also that I had overcome the fear of being beholden to someone who didn’t have my best interests in mind.
I was free.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I create art because I love it. I got into design for the art. As I get older, I realize the art I create can give back something to the people who, like me, are now striving to achieve something, whether it be a career in design, equal rights as an LGBTQ+ professional, surviving domestic violence,or fighting cancer. So, my art always funds help for a cause that has been dear to me.
Here is a link to the book of portraits created of survivors of domestic violence:
https://www.blurb.com/b/12008568-the-shine-project
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People can support the causes I support by being my art:
https://www.bryanthompsondesign.com/bt-shop
I am always open to collaboration on design, art, and philanthropy and can be reached at [email protected]
Pricing:
- 500-7500
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bryanthompsondesign.com/bt-shop
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/btdoesit/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BTDOESIT
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/misterbt/
- Twitter: https://www.youtube.com/@BTDOESIT
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/bryanthompsondesign/
