Andrea Jensen

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Colour

Fifty shades

In-house expertise

Endless possibilities

Andrea Jensen’s career has taken her all around the world, working for some of the best-known luxury car brands. But Bentley, she reveals, is a different league. The CMF (Colour, Materials and Finish) team recently moved to a prime location in the heart of Bentley’s dream factory alongside the car design team. The new studio, security-barred from prying eyes, is a treasure-house of fine materials, intriguing new finishes, and above all, colour.

On a shelf there’s a line-up of coupé silhouettes, minus wheels. At first glance they all appear to be the same colour, a soft satin finish gold. But each one of the dozen or more models, she explains, is in a subtly different shade. “We could try as many as fifty different variations before we arrive at the exact shade we’re looking for,” Andrea explains.

Fifty shades of gold sounds like a lot, but Jensen insists the results justify the effort. “We have our own paint expert, Steve Williams, and our own paint booth. That’s unique, and it gives us the capacity to create exactly the right shade in-house.”

“A designer can go directly to Steve and say, I really like that colour, but can you put more metallic flecks in it? And when it has that ‘flop’ [where the colour changes according to the angle of view] could that be a really dark flop?”

“Steve might spray out the first samples and because he has a deep understanding of pigments, he would also try out his own ideas for the team to review. A lot of times Steve surprises us with great ideas and has fantastic samples for us. It’s a collaboration between the whole team.”

Bentley’s range of over 120 colours includes solid colours, metallics, satins and pearl effects. But even a simple term like ‘metallic’ covers a world of subtle difference and complexity. Traditionally, metallic paints were created by tiny flecks of aluminium; but the paint designer’s palette now includes dozens of options, each of which is formulated from different materials and reacts differently to light and angle of view.

Jensen lists a few. “There’s Paliochrom, where the aluminium flakes are coated in iron oxide. Xirallic, which uses titanium. ChromaFlair has multi-layer flakes of aluminum, magnesium fluoride, and chromium. Colourstream uses silicon dioxide platelets coated with iron oxide. Each of these react differently to light and the angle of view. Because we can formulate our own paints in house, we can create our own finishes that are unique to Bentley.”

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Inspiration

Tradition and innovation

‘A screenshot in my head’

The team works at the cutting edge of paint technology. Pallas Gold, a soft liquid metal satin, recently made its debut on EXP15, Bentley’s design vision. The finish uses a new-to-market low-thickness pigment that allows the car’s radar signals to be transmitted through the paint. And its high reflectivity means it’s also easily picked up by the LIDAR systems of other vehicles, improving safety. As a further bonus, it takes less material, less drying time and thus cuts CO2 emissions.

Yet Pallas Gold’s inspiration came not from the laboratory, but from Bentley’s heritage. The nickel-silver radiator shells of 1920s Bentleys develop a golden patina with time, and the CMF team took that warm gold as their inspiration for EXP15.

“These gold tones and nickel tones are very on trend right now,” notes Jensen. “It's the Bentley way; taking something from the past and developing it into something fresh and contemporary.”

The CMF team travels the world looking for inspiration, and not just from the automotive world. “We visit international fairs for leather, textiles and furniture, like the Salon de Mobile in Milan. We also follow the luxury fashion world and work with some of the most innovative suppliers. But the work of a CMF designer never stops. If I’m on vacation, whether it’s on a beach, at an art exhibition, or a city like Seoul, I might just see some different materiality or colours. I’d think, that looks cool…it’s like a screenshot in your head.”

Sometimes inspiration comes closer to home. One team member joined from Bentley’s graduate programme. “We asked, are there any other departments you’re interested in? She said, ‘I’m really into 3D printing.’ So we sent her to learn about 3D printing, and she came back with some fabulous ideas for materials that we’ve included in EXP15.”

Teamwork

A designer’s dilemma

Trends and instincts

Andrea Jensen’s love of cars started early. Her father was a fan of the Jaguar E-type, and he took her with him to all the European motor shows. She’s also a passionate biker. But ask her to name her current favourite colour scheme for a Bentley and she demurs.

“I had to laugh about that question, because to ask a designer to choose a car and colour in your own model range is so hard. I’d wish I could change the colour every day.” Pushed to decide, she opts for a Bentayga in the newly developed Ombré by Mulliner technique. “My coupé is purple, my motorbike is gloss black, so the Bentayga would have the Ombré effect from purple to black. With a yellow pinstripe…that’s a cool combination.”

“That will be me. Perfect. A purple car, a black motorcycle, and then my Bentley from purple to black Ombré. I love that.”

Designing and engineering a brand-new Bentley takes about seven years from first sketch to showroom, so Andrea Jensen and her team are always looking ahead. “Car colours aren’t fast fashion, but there are trends. White is still strong, and right now it’s brown. But what’s coming? We work with trend gurus and forecast agencies. But at the end of the day, and that's something no one can explain, is we have it in our guts. We just know what is coming.”

“We're immersed in it. We're living it. We have a wonderful new design centre. We come to work every day to play with colours and materials. And everyone is just happy to be here and to do what we do. The best part is, that we are getting paid to live our passion, designing unique colours, materials and finishes for Bentley and making our customers happy. “