Rachel Galley, a luxury jewellery designer who has created pieces for celebrities such as Hollywood actress Juliette Lewis and pop star Lily Allen, has teamed up with Honda to produce a futuristic headpiece from parts of the sporty hybrid CR-Z.
The eye-catching piece – inspired by Honda’s ethos; the Power of Dreams – is a visual representation of a cluster of thoughts. From the main headpiece descends a curved spine graphically linking the head and the heart. Galley’s creative signature is a textured, honeycombe-like finish, so she was immediately attracted to the idea of using the car’s grille as the basis of the piece. Red, blue and green crystals are nestled within the structure so that from different angles it appears a different colour. This subtly echoes the car’s innovative 3-mode drive system: green for ECON, blue for NORMAL and red for SPORT.
Manipulating car parts proved an exciting challenge for a designer who usually works with precious metals. Much of the development process took place in a car workshop near her home. "As a child, my Dad, who was a civil engineer, was always encouraging me to help him solder pipe work so it felt very natural experimenting with parts of the CR-Z." says Galley.
"In all my work I draw inspiration from natural textures and objects from everyday life so it was interesting to look at a car in an entirely different way. As part of my research, I spent some time at Honda’s Swindon plant in the UK, meeting the technicians and seeing how cars are put together. I’ve learnt a huge amount and I’ve really enjoyed driving the CR-Z. As someone who spends their life thinking about design, I appreciate its style and hybrid technology."
The Honda CR-Z is the world’s first sporty hybrid coupé.
