Mazomoto: Rock the University

by Paul Negyesi

Gábor Országh, Sándor Putnoki, János Tasi, Péter Kukorelli, and Péter Üveges
(from left to right in above photo)

The old headquarters. The new one looks similar, but more cramped.

The Hungarian University of Crafts and Design is a conservative place. There's no such course as car or even transportation design.
Its based on a hierarchical principle: first You learn how to design small items and after tha you can create more complex designs. It's a systematical and sorted method but it has drawbacks: it mainly emphasize on individual creativity rather than group, it's been employed for decades without too much change, so it's a bit outdated.These aren't my thoughts, they were outlined to me by Lóránt Fodor, 40, one of the teachers at the University.

It was in 1988 or 1989 when Péter Kukorelli at his entrance examination showed car-drawings. Fodor admires his performance abilities, but ranks two other Mazomoto members higher: Tasi and Üveges. But I don't want to break the line of the story. In late 1991 János Tasi worked in a workshop, creating his Equus 1:5 scale model when Péter Kukorelli saw it and made some comments. AlsoLóránt Fodor showed up and commented the design. The three started to make conversations, exchanging ideas. This was the period, when the Tasi and Kukorelli created the Mazomoto group. Only drawings, ideas existed. And then in the summer of 1992 in a small room they exhibited the finished scale models and the drawings. Someone who saw this exhibition said to Fodor that the Hungarian Opel company will soon announce a design competition. Opel established an assembly plant a year earlier and they wanted to discover new ideas, new talents. The students of the University reached a runaway success:1-2-3. The 2nd place was shared between Péter Üveges,János Tasi and Attila Bocsi. Bocsi is living in Miskolc, in the northen part of Hungary and he self-educated himself to a very high level. He won a scholarship and studied car design at the Art Center College of Design, Europe in Switzerland until the school has been closed down. Kukorelli won the competition.This contest melted the Mazomoto group, Péter Kukorelli, János Tasi,Gábor Országh (his Toro became 3rd) and PéterÜveges together.

1993 was a busy year: in January the results of the competition was announced, the group was able visit the German Opel design studio and the Hungarian Opel plant, Tasi finally finished the Equus. Fodor became absolutely enthusiastic and thought that a transportation design course should be established. As a first step he suggested to integrated the Mazomoto group into the University system. Mazomoto was only based on friendship and Fodor thought if a club, surrounded by school rules would be established that should help him reaching his final dream and the Mazomoto group should get sponsorship lot more easily. But the bureucracy torpedoed the idea.

In 1995 the biggest mutual Mazomoto project, the 424 1:1scale model has been started and finished. During the construction of the 424, the 5th member Sándor Putnoki joined. Currently all of them working on separate projects. Kukorelli is in Switzerland, Üveges got his master diplom, Putnoki and Országh are still students, so is Tasi. Tasi rebodied a Honda motorbike with MiG airplaneparts, named it Air Blade lately and now he's been comissioned to design a McLaren F1-eater GT racer. The next Mazomoto project should be a caravan with a design originated from Országh.

After all of them graduated they have a chance of staying together, but only if they will be able to manage themselves. And whether the University became more tolerant on the topic of car design? "No way" - said Fodor. They learned the lesson with Mazomoto and they became envy to their successes so until the old teachers will not be replaced, the ideology holds still.