Great Contemporary Designers: Paolo Pininfarina

An Italian man with no limits to his imagination and three words that easily describe him: experience, tradition, and innovation. In his own words: “A beautiful design cannot exist without being practical, and you cannot achieve perfect functionality without a perfect form.”

Pininfarina began his successful career as a designer, leaving his mark on the Cadillac and Honda car powerhouses, later becoming an engineering director at General Motors. A bit of insight will be enough to notice his legacy in Ferrari, Maserati, Volvo, Alfa Romeo, Ford, Mitsubishi, and some exclusive prototypes.

Paolo has been a family entrepreneur whose history dates back to 1930. This Italian designer has always been inspired by the values of creativity and innovation, always keeping in mind the importance of tradition. His style attracted much attention from the automotive engineering sector due to his admirable way to combine the most futuristic and stylish forms with ingenious technical solutions, increasing functionality while obtaining a fabulous design.

As an unstoppable creator with unlimited imagination, Pininfarina doesn't allow stagnation to set root and pursues the refinement of his designs incessantly. While it is true that in his beginnings, he was dedicated almost exclusively to the automotive sector, now his activities have diversified. He says he has developed about 500 design projects that include furniture, yachts, interior design, and architecture.

Some examples of his creativity are: the computers of Packard Bell, the Juventus’s football stadium in Turin, and his first foray into religious architecture, carried out in 2010: the Gentiliza chapel, a metal sculpture in the middle of nature.