Pagnol X top moto liveries designer- Stephane Marty
Fall of 2018, Pagnol was in talks with my favorite design studio www.Kiska.com , who is basically the design studio for KTM and Husqvarna Motorcycles, amongst many other projects. The talks were about a collaboration of Kiska X Pagnol, featuring 2 of their top moto designers, the Husqvarna Vitpilens and of course, their Pagnol gear, one of them being vehicle graphics designer Stephane Marty. See his photo gallery HERE
Winter came along, Stephane was on his way out of Kiska and the project got cancelled, BIG bummer!
However, just the fact that Kiska was so interested in collaborating with Pagnol and connecting for this was mega flattering and motivating!
Fast forward to fall 2019 and again, I was in talks with Kiska to possibly do the same job Stephane was doing! Vehicle graphics, but my offer to do this part-time did not work for them, oh well! Not meant to be perhaps :)
Not the point here, Stephane still got done a cool shoot with his Pagnol M1 and he is now working at Royal Enfield, how cool is that!?
So what does a KTM/Husqvarna/Royal Enfield moto graphics designer have to say about the relationship in motorcycles with design and Pagnol? read on!
What relationship do you see in design and riding a motorcycle?
Personally, Design and Motorcycles are the same things! I would never be able to design graphics for bikes if I had no relation to this environment. I grew up in my Dad’s workshop, surrounded by helmets and motorcycles, I started riding when I was 4 and painted my first helmet at 6…. Motorcycles and Design have to do with emotions, you ride to feel something, to feed your spirit and reconnect with yourself. For me, it’s the exact same with design!
Where do you see motorcycling going these days?
The market is going well right now I think, brands are growing and it’s allowing them to innovate and explore new possibilities which are really cool. I’ve always been interested in new technologies and I m really curious about what electric bikes will become in the future. I don’t necessarily believe that those are greener, just different and the motorcycle world needed a fresh perspective like this! Honestly right now I m more concerned about the future of humankind in general, people start to hate on fossil fuels because they’ve been lied to by the media and politics when in reality we have much bigger problems that need to be addressed first, but let’s see. It’s always when facing the wall that humankind has taken the right decisions….
Paulo: I agree! What I see being the root of many problems, including pollution and in transportation, it is OVER POPULATION!
I approached you to be a part of Pagnol, but I am sure you would not say yes if it was a brand you did not liked! So what attracted you to be a part of Pagnol? as a brand and gear
In design we say form follows function right, once you have that, then you refine, you aim for the best possible outcome and add a touch of elegance in the meantime. And only then, from my opinion you get a nice product! That’s what got my friend Marco Wilhelm (Still a moto designer at Kiska) and I interested in Pagnol, if you see someone wearing it, there’s something special about it, at first you think it just a nice leather jacket. Then you start to see the details, you realize the cut is a little different, some of the lines are not as “retro” as you thought. That’s the beauty of it, it’s not like a loud Neon Yellowjacket with reflective stripes that screams “I AM HERE” it’s much more refined than that, you can see that a lot of love has been put into that jacket and it creates a connection. That’s something that has become very rare in today’s world, and I am glad there are brands like Pagnol out there still fighting to bring beautiful and honest products on the market!
Paulo: Our fit is not just “little different”! it is quite different, it has a “wearable slim and modern” fit, that goes against “adding space for the armor”, but let’s just say that is part of our secret formula! and yes, the goal was also to “make protective gear more attractive” which in today’s world = less is more, minimal, however, as a brand, you still aim to be “memorable and recognizable”! , so how do you do THAT? Come talk to me at Pagnol! lol
Thank you Stephane! This has been one of the most gratifying interviews and collabs that define the culture of Pagnol!
See his photos gallery HERE