Mathis Cosson

There are many designers whom I admire spanning from Renaissance era, golden 90s when industrilisation and space age bloomed to that of current entrepreneurial times. Albeit, the most recent designer which caught my attention is Mathis Cosson.

I always have my sight on deep tech innovations which are already or soon gonna impact the way humanity steps in the future. One of such innovate company work I was following was Lilium when they started out as TUM startup with the idea of e-VTOL concept, which is now a unicorn.

Mathis Cosson – 23-year old designer, fresh from completing his studies at the Institut Supérieur de Design (a grande école of design management in Valenciennes, France), had been given the chance to stamp his identity on the future of air transport by leading the design of the latest Lilium Jet prototype.

When designer Mathis Cosson sat down to sketch the Lilium Jet for the first time, his inspiration came not from the skies, but the oceans.

I loved this part where his technical design main inspiration is from the Nature, as I have always mentioned Nature has the most optimized designs iterated throughout evolution of universe for 13.7 billion Years since the Big Bang.

He drew inspiration from one of nature’s most majestic creatures – The Manta Ray.

“I believe biomimicry has a powerful role to play in design and a great deal of my inspiration came from the manta ray,” said Mathis.

He goes on to say – “The way it glides almost magically through the water was something we wanted to emulate with the Lilium Jet, delivering a sense of calm elegance and minimalist design. From the initial design direction I received from an external agency to my earliest hand sketches and the casting of the final parts for the aircraft, we kept our focus on delivering something that looked as if it had been sculpted by nature rather than by the human hand.”

Mathis and his design team are celebrating as the manta ray-inspired Lilium Jet has been selected as a Red Dot Award winner – one of the most prestigious design awards in the world. More than that, it has also been selected as a ‘Best of the Best’ in their Concept category and nominated for Red Dot’s highest accolade – the Luminary Award, given to only one of more than 4,200 entries annually.

Reference –

1. https://lilium.com/jet
2. https://lilium.com/newsroom-detail/from-the-oceans-to-the-skies-the-inspiration-behind-the-lilium-jet-design
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2021/02/10/lilium-evtol-spac-air-taxi/?sh=7a820c6e627c