This British designer makes car-inspired decor with pieces from F1 cars

From exhaust sculptures to chess sets, this British designer designs car-inspired decor with a difference, as his creations blend F1 power with chic designs.

Ben Rousseau has been fascinated with cars since he was a young boy.

Now, he brings that love into his work with incredible effect.

These decor staples would elevate any home to another level, regardless of whether or not the owner was a car enthusiast.

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Home decor with a difference – from F1 exhaust sculptures to KERS chess sets

For Rousseau, his interest in cars began at an early age, particularly as his dad owned an old 1955 Chevy Hotrod.

“When I was growing up, he’s always had motorbikes and old cars. As a boy, I was always interested in cars, vehicles, anything with wheels,” Rousseau told Supercar Blondie.

“We started going to kind of custom car shows with the hot rod, and actually, then you see what other people are doing, it’s what really opened my eyes to what some of these unbelievably talented people were doing, where they take an old car, but then actually modernize it.

He continued: “They’re spending literally everything they have making their dream vehicle that is their absolute pride and joy.

“It just opened the world to personalization, and that’s something that I brought into my interiors and my work.”

If there was one word to describe Rousseau’s work, it would be dazzling.

There’s a wall clock designed to tell the time using patterns of building light, taking influence from automotive designs like sports car wheels and digital speedometers.

And then there are little slices of automotive history, like a wall-mounted piece of the exhaust from Fernando Alonso’s car that he raced to victory in the F1 World Championships.

The clock is incidentally his favorite work: “The time pieces at the moment that I’m doing, they are because they’re innovative.

“I’m using these building patterns of light when I incorporate those into the because there’s like a movement with it.”

Some of his work is on the smaller side, like a chess set made from KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) parts from F1 cars.

But whether big or small, his work brings something different to the table.

There’s a bit of something for everyone

Rousseau doesn’t work alone on his decor and brings in the expertise of many within the motoring world.

“An incredibly important part of my work is the craftsmanship,” he said.

“For instance, the guys building the race cars or the drag racing cars, they have roll cages i,n and I use the guys who make roll cages to build some of my furniture because they’re specialist tube benders.

“I take the skills because I’ve got an aesthetic in my head of something. It might be a chair, or it might be a lamp, and it really comes from an area in the kind of automotive world.

“I’ve kind of befriended and hunted down these amazing craftsmen, whether they’re specialist metal work, body formers, carbon fiber, carbon fiber sculptures, workers, leather upholstery, fiberglass molds, there are so many different skill sets.

“I’ve an amazing network I’ve built up over the last 20-odd years that I bring into the world of interiors and use with lighting and artwork.”

We’ve seen a lot of people incorporate cars in their decor, whether it’s this Indian businessman with his Ferrari Stradale or this singer’s Ferrari parked under her bookcase.

But for Rousseau, he wanted his work to have a sentimental value too.

“Some people nowadays are lucky enough to stick a Formula 1 car on their wall, or they’ve got a Ferrari in the living room, or they’ve got their favorite Ducati hung up on the wall,” he said.

“I want that feeling and that almost kind of memory or that kind of emotion to come through into my work.

“It takes the person that owns it off into that little kind of area: it could be my Lamborghini and me driving out on a peaceful road.

He continued: “I just want everyone, even if they’re not a car guy, [to be able to enjoy it].”

“You can be a designer, a furniture aficionado, and you can appreciate good manufacturing.

“I do think there’s a need for the craftsmanship to be absolutely top-notch, that goes without saying, but it’s something anyone can appreciate it – even your grandma.

“I want things to be innovative. I’d love people to know my work as someone who was challenging the norm, and it’s utilizing the skills of these amazing craftsmen, but take them out of their comfort zone and put them in something different.”

To see more of Rousseau’s car-inspired decor for yourself, visit his website.

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