Flavio Manzoni
Flavio Manzoni (born 7 January 1965 in Nuoro, Sardinia) is an Italian architect and automobile designer. He is the Senior Vice President of Design at Ferrari from January 2010 and he has led in the creation of many Ferrari models including the Ferrari F12berlinetta, in collaboration with Pininfarina; LaFerrari, the first hybrid of the little horse, also born from his pencil, and in 2014 he gained the Compasso d'Oro for the F12berlinetta project (together with Pininfarina and Ferrari Style Center). He made (with Alberto Dilillo) the Lancia Fulvia Coupé concept presented in 2003 at the automobile exhibition of  Francoforte, for the Lancia Ypsilon and Lancia Musa who won the "European Automotive Design Award". Furthermore, he has been also the creative director of the Volkswagen group from 2000 to 2009. Career. Manzoni studied Architecture at University of Florence, specializing in industrial design. In 1993 he joined the Centro Stile Lancia, and three years later he was made responsible for Interior Design of the marque. He worked on various projects such as the interiors of the Lancia Dialogos and Lancia Thesis. In 1999, he moved to Barcelona to become Interior Design Director at SEAT, and working in the interiors of  the production cars SEAT Altea and SEAT León, and the concept cars SEAT Salsa and SEAT Tango. In 2001 Manzoni returned to Lancia and was appointed Design Director. He took charge of the concept cars Lancia Granturismo, Lancia Granturismo Stilnovo and Lancia Fulvia Coupé Concept, great success at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2003, and the production cars Lancia Ypsilon and Lancia Musa, winning the '"European Automotive Design Award" in 2003.In 2004 he was appointed Director of Design of Fiat, Lancia and Fiat LCV, beginning work on the Fiat Grande Punto, the new Fiat 500, and the Fiat Fiorino/Qubo . In 2006, with other authors, he wrote "L'automobile italiana" published by Giunti Editore. The same year, he moved to the Volkswagen group joining Audi, becoming in February 2007 the artistic director of the Volkswagen group "north" pole, where he began to work on a new stylistic image of the Volkswagen, Skoda, Bentley and Bugatti brands. He designed the concept "Up!", followed by the Scirocco model and the Volkswagen Golf restyling, called Golf VI, presenting the "Golf Plus" version at 2008 Bologna Motorshow. Also in 2007 he became a member of the iF-Award Product Design jury. From 12 January 2010  he joined Ferrari as director of design, replacing Donato Coco and creating an internal, complete and autonomous Style Center for the first time in the history of the brand. Ferrari FF is the first production car he oversee development with. He presented the Ferrari SA Aperta roadster at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. In 2012, at the Geneva Motor Show, he presented the Ferrari F12berlinetta, heir of the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and the first Ferrari developed by the Ferrari Style Center in collaboration with Pininfarina. Thanks to F12berlinetta he won the Auto Bild Design Award 2012, as the most  beautiful car in Europe, and the Golden Steering Wheel. In 2013 he made the heir of Enzo Ferrari: La Ferrari. He oversaw the lightening and aerodynamic redesign of the Ferrari 458 Speciale. In 2011 Flavio Manzoni was included into the Automobile Design Hall of Fame at the National Automobile Museum in Turin, Italy. In May 2014 he received the Compasso d'Oro award in the name of Ferrari, which rewards the combination of technology and design of the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. In December 2016 the Ferrari J50 was presented in Tokyo. Designed by Flavio Manzoni together with the Ferrari style center , it is a sports car produced in a limited edition to celebrate Ferrari's fifty years of presence in Japan. Among his latest works there are the F12 TdF (Tour de France), the most extreme version of the F12berlinetta, the Ferrari GTC4Lusso, sophisticated four-seater 690 HP coupé, the 488GTB sportscar and the 488 Spider open version and the California T, with important technical innovations. With his team he is directing the project of the "New Ferrari Style Center" in the production site of Ferrari S.p.A. based in Maranello (Modena). Each of the four floors of the new building  is dedicated to a different project design stage. In December 2014 on Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, his FXX-K was presented as the most powerful Ferrari ever. Although partially based on the very first hybrid car produced in Maranello, LaFerrari, the FXX-K is in fact a completely new car. In March 2017, the Ferrari 812 Superfast was presented at the Geneva Motor Show, designed by the Ferrari Style Center led by Flavio Manzoni. In September, the new Ferrari Portofino is presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show. He oversees the project of the "New Ferrari Style Center" inside  the Ferrari production plant in Maranello (Modena). The new building, inaugurated on 18 September 2018, is spread over four levels with natural lights and open spaces. The top floor contains a high-tech room [unclear] for the presentation of the projects. The Style Center also houses the company's Tailor Made department. In September 2018 Manzoni presented the Ferrari SP38 Deborah at the Grand Basel Show demonstrating his great passion for design: “It’s so important to show the shape of a car as it was intended, as a masterpiece or a work of art. These presentation frames are great  at stimulating contemplation – normally, we’re used to seeing cars in noisy and chaotic environments. But here, there’s nothing but the car, its name, and its date. There are no distractions.” The University of Sassari awarded him an honorary degree in Modern Philology and Cultural Industry on 28 June 2019 and Manzoni proposes a Lectio Doctoralis entitled Ferrari Design The metalanguage of form. For the partnership between Ferrari and Hublot, the historic luxury watchmaking fashion house, in 2019 he designed of the Hublot Classic Fusion Ferrari GT watch, inspired by the Ferrari "Gran Turismo" universe. Awards. The Ferrari Design  team headed by Flavio Manzoni has received numerous international awards and recognitions for its car models: In 2011 Flavio Manzoni was included in the Hall of Fame of car design at the National Automobile Museum in Turin, Italy. In 2012, he won Auto Bild Design Award thanks to Ferrari F12berlinetta voted as the most beautiful car in Europe. In 2013, he gained the Autoscout24 Design Award with LaFerrari. Furthermore, he also gained the Mamuthone ad Honorem for having distinguished himself outside Sardinia borders. In 2014 he received the Compasso d'Oro, the oldest and most recognized award in the industrial design  field, for the design of F12berlinetta, the Auto Design Award for LaFerrari and the Born Ultimate Design Award per Ferrari Cars. In 2015 under his direction of the Ferrari Style Centre three Ferraris won the Red Dot Award, the prestigious international design competition, for the FXX-K, the California T and LaFerrari. In 2016 the Compasso d'Oro is assigned to the Ferrari FXX-K, that it also gained the iF Gold Award. In the same year, he won the Red Dot "Best of the Best" award for Product Design for the Ferrari 488, the Autonis Design Award for Ferrari 488  Spider and the Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum with Ferrari F12tdf. In 2017 under his direction the Ferrari GTC4Lusso gained the award "Most Beautiful Supercar of the Year", assigned by the jury of the International Automobile Festival in Paris, and then it also gained the Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum and the iF Gold Design Award. In the same year the Ferrari J50 wins the Red Dot best of the best, while the Red Dot Awards were awarded to the GTC4Lusso, 458MM Speciale and LaFerrari. In 2018, the Red Dot Best of the Best and the Auto Europa 2019 Uiga  was assigned to the Ferrari Portofino. In May 2018 Manzoni received the Design Award for Concept Cars & Prototypes at the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este for the Ferrari SP38. In 2019, he gained the Most Beautiful Supercar of the Year for the Ferrari Monza SP2, while the Ferrari Monza SP1 wins the Gold Award at the iF Design Awards 2019, the Red Dot Best of The Best and the Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum. In May 2019 Flavio Manzoni and his Ferrari Team Design win the American Prize for Design intended to honor design excellence and innovation, and assigned by  the Chicago Red  Dot Design Team of the Year 2019. In 2020, he gained the Most Beautiful Supercar of the Year Award and the Car Design Award with the Ferrari Roma, the iF Design Award for the Ferrari SF90 Stradale, the Ferrari F8 Tributo and the Ferrari P80/C, the Red Dot Best of The Best with the Ferrari SF90 Stradale and the Red Dot Design Awards with the Ferrari Roma and the Ferrari F8 Tributo. In September 2020 the Ferrari Monza SP1 wins the 26th Compasso d'Oro Award, the world's oldest and most authoritative industrial design award. In  2022 the Ferrari Daytona SP3 received the "Grand Prize: most beautiful supercar 2022" at the International car festival in Paris and Flavio Manzoni received the important award "Grand Prize of Design" for quality, creativity and excellence creativity and excellence of his work.