Detour #83: Marek Reichman's Yorkshire, UK
Sim Mainey
Aston Martin’s Sheffield-born chief designer Marek Reichman lives by a mantra of ‘find the beauty’, so that’s exactly what Dan Trent searched for in his native Yorkshire.
Reichman took a spirit informed by childhood interest in manufacturing with him into a degree in Industrial Design in Teesside, and then to the Royal College of Art in London for his post-grad. This and an appreciation of both industrial and natural landscapes informs his work to this day. Outdated ‘grim up north’ stereotypes are decisively put to bed with this roadtrip following his path to the top of the design game.
Aston Martin
Heading north on the M1? Do yourself a favour and duck off the motorway where the flyover carries it past the giant Meadowhall shopping centre. Driving past that and into Sheffield’s heart you’ll see what little remains of the city’s famous steelmaking heart, though Brightside Lane does literally take you through the centre of the Sheffield Forgemasters works where the furnaces still burn and components for specialist industries are fabricated to this day.
Beyond that in the leafy suburbs of the university quarter is the impressive Broom Hall. Then the home and studio of locally-born silversmith David Mellor, a young Reichman would sit on the wall outside and observe through its windows the manufacturing process, literally from drawing board to finished article. This early appreciation that beautiful products are born of both creativity and industry explains a lot about where he is today.
David Mellor Design, now run by his son Corin, has since relocated to the heart of the Peak District and into a compact, purpose-built facility you can tour to appreciate the craftsmanship that still goes into its products. If the sudden transition from Sheffield’s densely packed centre and suburbs into the majesty of the surrounding Peak District has left you reeling the on-site café and shop is a great place to draw breath.
Heading north out of Hathersage you then skirt Ladybower Reservoir and take in a short stretch of the busy Snake Pass, before cutting north on the narrow but beautiful Strines road towards Langsett where you head west again on Woodhead Pass. As the main commercial route over the Peaks it’s epic but busy with trucks – thankfully you don’t need to spend long on it before heading north again over Holme Moss towards Huddersfield, the road popular with hardy cyclists retracing the steps of the Tour de France (and its Yorkshire namesake) at weekends but open enough for all to enjoy it.
Through Huddersfield a brief foray onto the M62 and M1 is a taste of the real world but cutting north-east on the A1 and then A168 soon has you on the edge of the North York Moors and a variety of options – all stunning – for the final push to Teesside. Mix and match as time allows but our pick would be the moorland run from Hutton-le-Hole over Blakey Ridge and then through Castleton, this fabulous stretch of road offering long sightlines and ‘top of the world’ vibes with traces of old industry even up here. Just watch out for the belligerent sheep.
Dropping down the northern escarpment of the moors, the view of Redcar’s steelworks and the vast petro-chemical works beyond was once obvious inspiration for local boy Ridley Scott’s opening vista in Bladerunner. Though now mothballed, the furnaces still loom over the dunes of the Tees estuary and the dead-end road to the South Gare lighthouse has an air of both mystery and post-industrial poignancy.
Following the Tees inland from here and into Middlesbrough you see versions of the same played out in many and various ways but, from the famous Transporter and Newport Bridges, the town’s impressive past in steel and shipbuilding is inescapable. And at the heart is the thriving university, where Reichman studied Industrial Design and saw the parallels between Sheffield’s relationship to the nearby Peak District and Middlesbrough’s with the moors, upon whose roads he and his friends would enjoy an eclectic range of cheap classics bought with their grant money. Finding beauty in both the both natural and the industrial, and the old and the new, is a lesson he learned on his journey between these two proud northern powerhouses, and one confidently expressed in the cars Aston Martin builds today.
Words Dan Trent Twitter | Instagram
Photography Sim Mainey Instagram