Designing a Zento wheel starts with the details, making sure each feature compliments the next. Each design stems from a single shape or detail taken from an everyday object, and I will place that angle or feature in a number of different forms within a very basic wheel template until I can start to understand if it belongs in this design (or any for that matter). Reinventing the wheel is not easy (and quite frankly can go on forever with no end in sight), and as the saying goes… there’s not much point in it.
I am Cameron, and I am the inhouse designer for Zento Wheels. With a background in Branding & Identity graphic design, I have surrounded myself with 2D design. However, 3D design was actually my origin, using 3D software to design furniture and car accessories in school and Sixth form. It was only at the crossroads of choosing a University degree did I go for graphic design instead of product design, following an interview with a lecturer who told me the University had no path for automotive design. Since then, I have kept 3D design as a hobby and an open tab that I hoped I would later be able to reopen. When Nico approached Dave and I with the idea of creating Forged Billet wheels, it was the easiest yes of my working life so far!
I have always had a knack for picking up new software, and would often bounce between the adobe suite, Logic Pro and Vinyl Plotter software depending on the task at hand that day. Therefore, relearning 3D software came back to me quicker than expected. The design journey usually starts with a single feature. The wheel will start to take form on a 2D platform before it’s translated over to 3D. The advantage with a 3D design is the idea of depth and concave, which is one of the most important translations within wheel design. What may appear to be a relatively simple design in 2D can transform into a complex display of lip, concave and cutouts once an extra dimension comes into play.
Now, as with all design, sometimes I can spend countless hours on a design only for it to fall short of expectations at the last hurdle - the render. It’s an occupational hazard when operating a forged wheel company that prides itself on the details. If the finished design doesn’t represent the brand and level of standard we expect, it unfortunately goes no further. While a little frustrating at times, there is usually an important lesson I can draw from it. Perhaps the design would actually work better as a monoblock wheel than a multi-piece. Maybe the PCD area was missing a certain flare, or even the spoke pattern or number was wrong right from the get go. Either way, I will allow myself 5 or so minutes to process (Sometimes it’s a bitter pill to swallow!) and then make an action plan and get to work rectifying the issue/s that have appeared. Being prepared to bench a design or even walk away from it entirely is important to keep the quality where it needs to be. The details matter. Perfection is the baseline. 
The beauty behind billet wheels is the ability to capture some subtle design features in a highly accurate way. This is a really satisfying green light to add any and all details that allow the designs to be the best they can be. With the Vallar, we knew that the long spokes were key to an aggressive look, but only after creating the 2D did we feel the design was not 100% there. I displayed the image big on the office display where Nico and I brainstormed what was holding it back. It looked fantastic, and I really believed it would have been a very well liked product… but it was ever so slightly short of the Zento Magic we were aiming for. After a brainstorming session and a few alterations we found the missing gem! We added the split on the end of each spoke and it brought the design to life.
We always bounce each design off each other, where one of us will tend to notice something the other had not. Nico may walk in the office with a new idea, and we stem a plan from that. With each wheel, we have spent countless hours analysing every feature and detail. It was the same process we used when branding Zento, where Nico and I sat down and spent around 3 brainstorming sessions creating a list of names (around 50!) that we applied to our assigned guidelines until we decided on Zento. We held onto that list and actually have named most of our wheel catalogue from that very list!
Being able to design forged aluminium wheels is really fulfilling a dream of mine, and allows me to base my working life around some truly incredible cars!