Jury-GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN / Published on January 6, 2021
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Denys Lapointe
Senior Vice-President | Design, Innovation & Creative services
BRP
Valcourt, Canada
PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE – PEOPLE OF DESIGN VERSION!
What prescient youthful memory relates to your present career?
I remember my first doodles and drawings at age 4 on my father’s drawing table in his Québec City office. Those days made me want to follow in his footsteps and become a designer.
Photo: My father’s office in Quebec City
Year: 1965
City: Valcourt, CANADA
What are three basic rules you learned from your mentors?
3 basic rules I learned and still apply aujourd’hui today are:
1. Always diverge before converging.
2. Ce qui mérite d’être fait mérite d’être bien fait.
3. « Practice makes perfect ».
What project launched your career?
The new Sea-Doo era beginning in 1988.
Photo: When I first started at BRP
By: BRP
Year: 1988
City: Valcourt, CANADA
Description: The new Sea-Doo era.
Any music playing while you work?
Yes, in creative mode, I listen to different styles of music that are often quite melancholy. It may go from Brel to Aznavour, from Simon & Garfunkel to Charlie Cunningham or Blanco White, and more. The softer side brings me closer to the emotion…
Listen to a playlist:
Cornelius
Brel à Aznavour
Simon Garfunkel
Charlie Cunningham
Blanco White
Do you work in PJs or three-piece suits?
Somewhere between PJs and three-piece suits, I’d say! A minimum of decorum please! A pair of jeans and a casual shirt.
What is your current design state of mind?
Passion and wisdom!
What living architecte or designer do you most admire?
I much admire the work of SYD MEAD.
To see more
Syd Mead in 2007
Source lukeford.net, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons
What past architecte or designer inspires you the most?
GIORGETTO GIUGIARO, named designer dof the century (Giugiaro was named Car Designer of the Century in 1999 and inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2002).
To see more
What is your most marked design quality?
Leaving my comfort zone! Redefining paradigms…
How would you like your designs to go down in history?
I wish to see our products recognized as gateways to exhilarating experiences and discoveries as well as for their practicality aimed at simplifying the lives of end users.
By: BRP
Year: 2020
City: Valcourt, CANADA
What peer quality do you most value?
As a designer, I rightfully value originality and creativity amongst my peers!
Which project is the epitome of your work?
Hands down … my team’s quality and diversity!
Photo: My team at the BRP Design & Innovation Centre from Valcourt, Ca and Palm Bay, USA.
By BRP
Year: 2020
City: Valcourt, CANADA
Description: The entire team gathered to celebrate 50 years of BRP design.
How are your country of belonging’s values reflected in your work?
Born in Québec, I believe diversity and inclusion are core values reflected in my work and approach.
Photo: Multiculturalism and diversity at the heart of BRP’s values. The BRP Design & Innovation Centre team, 2020
Year: 2020
City: Valcourt, CANADA
Description: My team’s mosaic at the BRP Design & Innovation Centre from Valcourt, Ca and Palm Bay, USA.
What always inspires you?
I am inspired by beauty in all its shapes and forms!
If a spell were to transform you into an object, by all means, what would you like to be, and why?
I would want to be a drone: for its mobility and endless possibilities and unexpected perspectives.
Photo: Upter Concept Project, by BRP
Year: 2017
City: Valcourt, CANADA
Description: “Upter” an exploratory concept that emerged at the annual BRP Design Forum. The goal was to create an alternative to personal transportation by leveraging the third dimension above us, to ease access in and out of cities in a much cleaner way.
What is your favorite place in the world?
Italy, Italy, Italy. For all it stands for and all it is!
What design or architecture project do you wish you would have thought of yourself?
À la Calatrava’s City of Arts and Sciences, in Valencia, Spain. Especially come nightfall.
If you could host any three guests, past or alive, over for dinner, who would you choose and what would you dare serving?
I would love to host GIORGETTO GIUGIARO, as he is the source of my passion for the profession of designer, KOEN DEWINTER, for the quality of his teaching, and SAM LAPOINTE, my father, my mentor.
I’d serve them my famous « Frutti de Mare linguini » with excellent bottles of Brunello.
What is your dream? THINK BIG!
