Wednesday, April 6, 2005

Consumer's Eye

Fabrics get plush feel inside cars

Ford designer considers cashmere to add comfort to auto interiors.

By Anita Lienert / Special to The Detroit News

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The satin binding on baby blankets is such a comfort to kids that they carry them around long after they've outgrown them. Ford Motor Co. designer Anthony Prozzi wants to take the concept of blanket binding and apply it to auto design.

Prozzi would like to take a soft fabric such as cashmere and use it to line the edges of armrests in cars and trucks.

"It would be a special little patch that you can stroke," explained the 41-year-old designer, who is busy at work on future Ford minivans. "Nobody would know it's there but you."

That little comfort factor should go a long way toward making people love their cars and trucks -- and maybe take up thumb-sucking again.

Prozzi, who created the interior of the Mercury Meta One concept car, has a lot more unusual ideas for interior design.

The Meta One's unusual sky-blue cabin, for example, was inspired by the color of the ice skating outfit worn by champion Michelle Kwan during a 1998 performance. And the concept has a shimmering white carpet that uses high-tech fibers.

Prozzi, a onetime Donna Karan men's clothing designer who is also a figure skater and yoga practitioner, says he's "in a white mood" and wants to see more "decadent and opulent materials" used in cabins.

"I want to bring white into the interior without looking surgical," Prozzi said. "It's such a luxury. It's like a white rug or a white cashmere sweater. You will pay a premium for purity."

He would also like to see interior color combinations such as aqua and brown, which are showing up in spring apparel.

"I ask myself, 'Would I like to see this in an outfit?'" he explained, when describing how he comes up with interior colors. "Design in cars, clothing, home and housewares is merging into one."

As he reinterprets the minivan, Prozzi draws on his days at Donna Karan.

"Every woman I know says her vehicle has got to be like the outfit that goes from day to night, from home to office," he said. "My belief is that you accomplish that through the use of fabric."

You can reach Anita Lienert at ConsEye@aol.com.