The Chicago Athenaeum has named Italian architect and designer, Flavio Manzoni, as this year's Laureate of the American Prize for Design. Each year, The Prize is awarded to designers who have made a commitment to forward the principles of design excellence within the context of our contemporary society and who elevated design to a more a profound humanist statement about how our modern contemporary society can advance and progress as a result.
Given in conjunction with the Museum's historic GOOD DESIGN Awards, this Prize honors a specific design practitioner with the highest pubic accolade for producing design that promotes design excellence, innovation, and lasting design.
As Senior Vice President of Ferrari Design, Flavio Manzoni is passionate: not only about his work but also about art, classical music and futuristic & science fiction-inspired design. While maintaining a huge respect for Ferrari's heritage, he does not subscribe to the retro trend, but instead designs to create some of Ferrari's future classics. For over two decades, his works and styling for some of the most successful automobiles the world industry have become instantaneous, most visible and recognized design icons of our contemporary times.
"In design, we must never forget the importance of intuition, the importance of the artistic side as well: we always try to put an artistic value on the form because it must be a dynamic sculpture," stated Manzoni. "It must be extraordinary not only in terms of performance, but also extraordinary in terms of beauty."
Flavio Manzoni was born in Nuoro (Sardinia, Italy), in 1965, and holds a Degree in Architecture, specializing in Industrial Design, from the University of Florence. After gaining professional experience in the fields of architecture and industrial design, Manzoni joined Fiat Auto in 1993 as a designer at the Lancia Styling Centre, taking responsibility for interiors in 1996.
From 1999 to 2001, Manzoni filled a similar position at the Seat Styling Centre in Spain. While he was at Seat, Manzoni worked on the interiors of the Tango, Salsa, Leon, and Altea. In November 2001, Manzoni returned to Fiat Auto, as head of the Lancia Styling Centre. In March 2004, he took responsibility for the Fiat Styling Centre.
Manzoni moved to Design at the Audi brand group on December in 2006 where he was appointed Director of Creative Design Volkswagen. In 2010, he joined Ferrari as Head Designer; and has since overseen the designs of the company's most recent masterpieces.