Kadence is a world leading force in the field of physical modelling.

Kadence’s physical modelling is led by their hugely experienced director, Mat Nicolson.

Mat began his career in clay modelling at Audi Germany in the mid-90s before moving on to OEMs such as Volkswagen, Volvo, Ford and Mercedes-Benz amongst many others. He achieved particular acclaim for his work in the early days of Ferrari Design’s Central Stillo as a Lead Clay Modeller under Flavio Manzoni on the La Ferrari.

Mat then became a pioneer in the Asian market, joining Geely as Director to build their entire physical modelling infrastructure in China, under Peter Horbury, before moving on to a global role directing and balancing the physical modelling outputs of Geely Global, Lynk&Co UK, Lynk&Co Sweden, Proton Malaysia, SMART China, and Lotus.

Mat joined Kadence as Physical Modelling Director in 2021.

Based in Shanghai and working out of Kadence studios, our world renowned clay modelling team can find and advance designs, with dramatic results. Tailored to seamlessly align with digital, changes can be vigorously thought through, applied, scanned and fed back into digital with incredible speed. With over 10 years experience in China, Kadence has selected the finest clay modellers to create a truly formidable force.

From fast, intuitive sketch modelling to refined surface development. From our painted Dynoc technique to crisp tapes. We deliver a complete clay presentation system for realising designs quickly, with lead, tension and surface maturity, so hard to find elsewhere in China or beyond.

Driven with the highest expertise, passion and levels of experience, Kadence physical modelling is a formidable function of design.

“My vision for clay modelling in this emerging digital age is still as a razor sharp ‘tool in the box’ for designing cars efficiently. Clay is a function of design that when applied in the correct way can still hugely affect the shape and maturity of the object you see in the sales showroom. In any design scenario, clay is an open door to the possibility of finding things, live and direct.”

Mat Nicolson, Physical Modelling Director, Kadence.