Italiani famosi

Sergio Pininfarina

By Joseph Pierce

Sergio as a young man.

Most people would not know the name Sergio Pininfarina. They might not recognize the company Pininfarina. However, this small Italian design firm has been involved in work from designing everything from coke machines to cars. Pininfarina is synonymous with style, and their work reflects that. For example, Ferrari will design a chassis for a car, and Pininfarina will make a beautiful body that drapes over a car, like a skin. Pininfarina is known for car design. However, later in his life, Pininfarina was promoted as Senator for life in the Italian Senate. Even though he only voted on one issue, this still was a huge honor. The reason I chose Mr. Pininfarina ishis work as a car designer for his father’s coachbuilding firm has grown and transformed into a large design firm that has huge accounts. This transformation would not have happened without Sergio. For example, walk into a Wegman’s in PA and the soda dispensers bear his name on them. If you have ever seen the Coke machine pictured below, you have used one of his company’s designs. Pininfarina’s designers even created a soccer stadium in Italy!

Pininfarina's Juventus Stadium

The work would be very different without Mr. Pininfarina’s influence especially because of his influence on car design. Ferrari has used Pininfarina as a design consultant since the 50’s, and has been loyal to them for decades. Other companies including Chevrolet and Cadillac have used Pininfarina’s services. Life would be very different without Sergio Pininfarina. Think of all the ugly cars Ferrari could have made without support! Mr. Pininfarina died last year. However, if I could ask him one question, it would be this. What is your favorite Ferrari designed by you or your firm? I do not know what his answer would be, but I would love to hear his stories. I would love to find out about his relationship with old man Enzo, and talk about day-to-day work designing masterpieces of science and engineering. I think one of the many reasons for Pininfarina’s success was that it was based in Italy. This culture of art and design helped Sergio’s father, Battista, build a coach building firm that would eventually be revered in history. Today, Italy’s long history of vibrant art helps expand the influence of Pininfarina to every corner of the globe.