Winners of Fiat's "Design the Italian Way" competition were announced on September 20, 2007 at the new Fiat Group Automobiles' Style Centre headquarters, Officina 83, in Turin, Italy. Participants in this competition - launched on November 30, 2006 - came from eight of the world's leading design schools: Turin's European Institute of Design, the Design Faculty of Milan Polytechnic, Detroit College for Creative Studies, Coventry University of Art and Design, Tokyo Communications Arts, Moscow's Stroganov State University, Ahmedebad National Institute of Design (India) and the Umea University Institute of Design (Sweden).
The idea for this award was a joint effort that involved not only Style Centre designers but also the Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo brands and their respective Product, Engineering & Design and Human Resources management teams. The basic features to be incorporated in projects developed for each of the three brands were defined by the CEOs of Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo, namely, Luca De Meo, Olivier Francois and Antonio Baravalle.
In all, 200 students of 12 different nationalities participated in the "Design the Italian Way" competition and were divided into three groups - one for each brand. They presented 100 projects in total. A winner for each brand was then chosen from designs submitted by each of the participating schools. In the majority of cases, projects were the work of a 2/3-student team all of which will participate in a Fiat Group Automobiles program providing hands-on experience, thanks to a study grant covering five months in the Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo Style Centers.
Voting on the sudents' designs was a jury comprising experts from the design field, fashion world, architects and specialized journalists, who singled out six works from the 24 project finalists that were given special mentions. The awards covered the Best Italian Design for the Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo brands; Best Innovative Material Use; Best Future Vision; Best Overall Communication.
The briefing students received for the Fiat brand was to develop a concept for the future Panda and to create a family of models around the Grande Punto. They were also told to bear in mind items and products associated with these two cars that can create a new, strong and distinctive family feeling based on smiles, a friendly feeling, simplicity and dynamism, which are the hallmarks of this brand.
Winners for the Best Italian Design for Fiat were Danilo Tosetti, Luca Seren Gay, and Enrico Vercelli of the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) in Torino, Italy. "The youngsters at IED acted essentially on instinct, researching the historical and current industrial scene to come up with what best fitted their strong underlying stylistic intuition," said designer Anna Maria Palmigiano of Advanced Design Alfa Romeo. "They then worked towards formalizing the initial idea, refining and sometimes completely changing it, but without ever losing the freshness of their original idea." The students also won the Best Future Vision and the Best Overall Communication awards.
The Best Innovative Material Use award went to Federico Weber and Danilo Mangini of the Politecnico di Milano in Italy for their Panda Splash concept. "The Polytechnic conducted broad research based on an amazingly in-depth survey and capacity for analysis," Palmigiano noted. "They then came up with a stylistic idea based on their well-organized conceptual structure, expressing this in an attractive design perfectly in line with the theoretical content."
There were three concepts for Alfa Romeo: a 'large', versatile sports model; a flagship incorporating a new stylistic approach while still meeting the expectations of traditional customers; a 'small', zippy car, fun to drive and with an affordable price. As for interiors, the request was hi-tech devices, shapes and content. Sporty style and emotions are what differentiate the style of this brand. The winners of the Best Italian Design for the Alfa Romeo brand ex aequo were Mahan Ghose from the National Institute of Design in India for his Alfa Romeo concept and Carmelo Giannone of the Istituto Europeo di Design in Italy for the Alfa Romeo Area.
For the Lancia brand, students were asked to reinterpret Lancia's concepts of refinement, glamour and technology in an innovative key, developing two different concepts belonging to the same product family: a compact mainly for town use and a versatile, small-size MPV. In this case, there was to be a special focus on interiors to ensure maximum possible personalization in line with current fashion trends.
Students Naoya Tsukamoto, Tatsuya Yamamoto, Chen Yi Kai from Tokyo Communication Arts in Japan took home the Best Italian Design for the Lancia brand for their Lancia Aemila concept.
The work of the students was regarded very favorably by designer Andreas Wuppinger of Fiat Centro Stile studios, even though the students have no experience with the brand in their home country. "They have a considerable knowledge of the car design world, executing ideas and volumetric approaches of their projects in a very professional manner, while a great deal of attention has been given to surfaces," Wuppinger said. "Very fluid, sinuous shapes are the hallmark of the projects, with graphics and lines that give the designs a very expressive harmony, sometimes intentionally provocative, but always bearing in mind technical and functional credibility."
On the final evening of the "Design the Italian Way" competition three separate areas were organized - one for each brand - with an exhibition of works by the 24 finalists. Jury members were able to talk with the young designers, review their projects and decide which deserved special mention. And so after the gala dinner there was an official prize-giving for the 24 winning entries followed by awards for the projects selected for a special mention.
