Research
Images sourced from Jaguar Cars website on the internet.
Image sourced from the internet.
Photographs taken by Nigel Frey.
Photograph taken by Nigel Frey.
Images sourced from the internet due to visitors to the exhibition being
prohibited from taking their own photographs.
Image sourced from the internet (top) and photograph taken by
Nigel Frey (film poster display).
Photographs taken by Nigel Frey.
Photograph taken by Nigel Frey.
IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH
In the past, Nigel has benefitted from periodically reinventing his career and is currently working on the next phase that will take place over the next two years. This will be accompanied by rigorous and intensive research and development, as part of the necessary change in direction and its associated expansion of creative work.
Over time, experience has taught Nigel that ongoing research encourages the development of an inquiring mind, leading to self-education on a wide variety of art and design related subjects. He is also inspired by seeing how other organisations work on projects at different stages of the process.
Furthermore, travel is one of the best forms of education anyone can have and as a result, Nigel’s thought provoking responses to his own travels will lead to the incorporation of a more cosmopolitan look to selected planned projects in the future.
RESEARCH INTO ARCHITECTURE
Throughout his working life, Nigel’s original ambition to become an architect has led to a continued interest in the work by various individuals and organisations in this area of design. These have included the architects Frank Lloyd Wright, Antoni Gaudi, Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Cesar Pelli, Nicholas Grimshaw, Santiago Calatrava and Zaha Hadid.
Many visits to the annual Open House London architectural events have allowed him access to 30 St Mary Axe (the Gherkin), the Leadenhall Building (the Cheesegrater), Lloyds of London, Foster and Partners headquarters, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Bank of England, resulting in a further interest in the subject.
RESEARCH INTO CAR DESIGN
Nigel has been fascinated with car design ever since the unveiling of the Bertone Jaguar Pirana concept car in 1967.
It was in his final year at university that he produced a thesis on contemporary car design and as part of his research, he visited car factories at Aston Martin (in Newport Pagnell), AC (in Thames Ditton), Panther (in Byfleet) and Vauxhall (in Luton). This was partly to examine why manufacturing techniques varied so much to adapt to different sectors of the car market.
He has also had an interest in the work created by concept car styling businesses such as Pininfarina, Bertone and the former International Automotive Design company (IAD), as well as concept car creations by Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin-Lagonda, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Citroen, Sbarro and the industrial designer Luigi Colani. Many examples have been produced over the years to introduce a proposed change in design direction and to test consumer response.
Nigel's research has also been supplemented by many past visits to motoring events, including the London Motor Shows, the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Goodwood Revival and car drag racing at Santa Pod Raceway.
RESEARCH INTO FILM MAKING, GRAPHIC DESIGN, ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY
Also included is the work by the film director Stanley Kubrick; graphic designers Saul Bass and Tom Eckersley; the film concept artist Syd Mead; artists Roger Dean, Maxfield Parrish and Claude Monet; the fashion designer Alexander McQueen; photographers Mario Testino, Don McCullin, David Bailey, Nick Knight and Brassai, the lighting artist Bruce Munro and the cinematic visual effects artist Douglas Trumbull.
RESEARCH INTO MUSICIANS’ IMAGES AND MARKETING
He has also been interested in a selection of musicians’ contrasting styles and evolving trends as highlighted by the extensive range of album cover designs by Hipgnosis.
The visually and musically interesting periods of change by the singer David Bowie throughout his career, have made for a fascinating comparison with the German electronic band Kraftwerk through the use of costumes, stage set designs, graphic design, photography and illustration.
RESEARCH THROUGH TRAVELLING
Travel has also helped to further enrich Nigel’s creativity and imagination, especially from an artistic, architectural, historical and cultural point of view. This in turn has encouraged the development of a more cosmopolitan outlook in art and design, commercial work and teaching material.
Nigel admits he feels very lucky to have had the opportunity to travel to inspirational destinations such as Turkey’s Istanbul, India’s Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Darjeeling, Egypt’s tombs of the pharaohs (including Tutankhamun’s) and its ancient temples in and around Luxor.
Additional interest has extended to mainland Italy’s and Sicily’s historical sites and volcanoes, Nepal’s Kathmandu and other ancient cities and trekking in its Himalayan mountains (including a mountain flight past Mount Everest itself), Morocco’s Marrakech as well as trekking in its High Atlas mountains and to trek in Spain’s Pyrenean mountains.
It is his response to trekking in mountain regions that has led to the development of his landscape photography work.
Nigel hopes to explore other parts of India together with the archaeological ruins at Teotihuacan and Monte Alban in Mexico, Jordan’s Petra Temple and Wadi Rum desert and Zaha Hadid’s space age Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku, Azerbaijan.
In an ideal world, he would also like to explore the Roman ruins of Palmyra in Syria, the Shah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran, the many pyramids in Sudan, Timbuktu in Mali and the ancient mud-brick skyscrapers in Yemen. But unfortunately, travellers are currently advised to avoid visiting such places due to political turmoil, wars and terrorism.
All this research and the varied experiences over the years have steadily opened his eyes and mind to so many fascinating sources of visual information.
INTERESTS
Photography - graphic design - architecture - car design - fashion and art - museum and art gallery visits - music and films - science and space exploration - research and current affairs - archaeology and ancient history (especially Egyptology) - nature, geography and volcanology - countryside walks and worldwide travel.
