| The designer must unite creative functions with the technological ones. |
Doorhandle
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Tecno
Who is he Giorgetto Giugiaro
Tecno doorhandle (1999 prod. Olivari)
Archimede doorhandle (1985 prod. Olivari)
| from
the book "L'architettura presa per mano" (Hand on architecture) by Stefano Casciani,
Idea Books, Milan, 1992 Giugiaro's appearance on the scene of car design represented a true revolution in the way of conceiving the design of vehicles. Infact, until 1970 there was no such figure as an industrial designer in the field of automobile manufacturing, but simply the stylist, who on the basis of a more or less correct intuition resolved the formal aspects of the vehicle. The consequences on the production were obvious: very beautiful sports and custom-built cars, and horrible boxes for the masses. Giugiaro dismantled this archaic situation, presenting himself not as a mere "dress designer", but as a planner of the complete product. In his own words: "The high cost of investment for launching a product on a large scale ... forces the designer to make every effort to provide his customer with precise and complete answers. The designer must unite creative functions with the technological ones - extemporize as a technician in order to dialogue with the technicians - in order to defend and assert the quality of his intuitions". It was on the basis of this concept that Italdesign was founded in 1968. Giugiaro proposed a new formula: to provide the car manufacturers with all the elements necessary for industrial production: models, prototypes, car bodies, times and methods of production, feasibility. |
Volkswagen
Golf (1974)  |
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> The Company > Products > Designers > Bibliography > Quality > Publicity |
| The
Golf Volkswagen (10 million cars sold in 1988) was created according to this formula,
and dozens of other cars of all categories, to the Panda and the Uno by Fiat.
Giugiaro gradually extended his activity to other fields, until he in 1981 created Giugiaro Design, a company that designed all products except cars: cameras, telephones, calculators, entry phones, car radios, sewing machines; products that are apparently disrelated but are all characterized by the vital importance of an integral biotechnological approach. |
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handlebar of the Blouson bicycle, the seat of the office armchairs for Tecno,
even the shape of the Marille noodles all consist in "interfaces" between Man
and the object, that Giugiaro resolves with the same formal ability. As he has stated, referring to the Pitagora doorhandle, "I have always been attracted by objects of everyday use. Their simplicity stimulate the creative activity enormously. This is why I have eagerly accepted to design a new doorhandle for Olivari: as essential as the solid geometric elements that it is formed by, the cube and the cylinder. The possible colour combinations are almost infinite, as is the very concept of the number". |
