Ettore Sottsass was a great Italian architect and designer who lived from 1917 until his passing in 2007. His body of art and design included furniture, jewelry, glass, lighting, home objects, and office machine design, as well as many buildings and interiors. One of his more famous quotes was:
“If it doesn’t have to do with love, I’m not interested.”
My friend Steve Anderson lived by that quote. Steve was an early Cars Yeah guest, number 11 to be exact. He was kind enough to be interviewed when I was just beginning my rookie journey in to podcasting. I had the honor of knowing him for almost 20 years and commissioned Steve to create many illustrations of automobiles for my home and as gifts for friends. The Porsche pictured above was the first piece Steve drew for me of a car I owned for many years. Steve was extremely talented as an artist and designer. He was a fixture in the Southern California automotive world, having graduated from Art Center majoring in transportation design and taking up positions with VW, Nissan, GM, and most recently Audi. His professional legacy includes work involving the Concept One/New Beetle, 350Z, Solstice, Jay Leno’s turbine car, and countless concept cars.
The automotive design world knew Steve and his talents well.
Steve’s design talent didn’t rest when he went home for the day. He spent his evenings drawing custom illustrations for clients, and series documentations that were a mainstay of the market reports for Excellence and Cavallino magazines. He contributed illustrations that were difficult to discern from photography, such was his attention to detail, for books including British Racing Green. His latest involvement was with Pete Stout’s OOO magazine, and he was thrilled to be a part of that project.
His art hangs in my office and it inspires me daily.
Steve had an eclectic taste in the cars he owned for fun, never more than one at a time, and he rarely held on to his cars for more than a few years. What started with a ’80 911SC Weissach Edition, evolved into a ’74 Euro Carrera, and then a ’69 911S SWT. His affinity for Porsches was always strong, but he dabbled in other marques too, owning an early M Coupe, an LP400, a flat-floor E-Type, Jim Clark Edition Elise, Rolls Corniche, Defender D90, and the current D110. Steve would often call me during his long commutes home to talk about cars, design, business, his family, his loving wife Kerry, and his children who he adored. During my interview with Steve he quoted Eric Noble, founder of The CarLab, an automotive product planning consulting group, and a designer he admired.
“You can sleep when your dead Steve.”
I often wondered when Steve ever slept as he was always on the go, creating, sharing, and ever giving. Eulogies never get close to telling one’s true life story and an individual’s touch on others lives. We lost Steve Anderson last week as he returned from Santa Cruz Island, where he and his loving wife Kerry had spent a glorious day hiking and celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary. Steve is survived by his family and five children and the many friends in the automotive industry that he inspired through his design and kind words.
Steve’s parting words of advice…
When he appeared on the Cars Yeah podcast Steve quoted a line from Poor Charlies’ Almanack – “The best way to ensure a miserable life is to be unreliable.” Steve was always reliable.
Rest in Peace my friend. You touched the world in so many meaningful ways including the spreading of a whole lot of love and inspiration.