Red Dot Award: Product Design

Designing Dreams: Ferrari Design Team

Designing Dreams: Ferrari Design Team – top-class design in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen

Since 1988, the honorary title “Red Dot: Design Team of the Year” has been awarded annually to a design team that distinguishes itself through its continuously innovative design work and thereby sets standards in its industry. In 2019, the title goes to Flavio Manzoni and the Ferrari Design Team. The exhibition “Designing Dreams: Ferrari Design Team”, conceived by the title holder himself, provides insights into the routine of the crew that works for one of the most coveted car brands in the world and leads the Ferrari myth into the future with its creativity. It is presented in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen from 12 July until 25 August.

Experiencing Ferrari

The museum invites visitors to discover two real Ferraris, several sports cars, which were awarded a prize in the Red Dot Award in the past years, at a scale of 1:10, as well as sketches. Photos of the work routine of the design team and a full-size clay model of the Ferrari Monza SP1 are also on show. In 2019, the car was awarded the highest distinction in the competition, the Red Dot: Best of the Best.

Flavio Manzoni, Senior Vice President of Design at Ferrari, attaches great importance to model making, the clay modelling. During this process, scale and full-scale models are created by digitally controlled milling machines. Thereby, the Head of Design and his team work like artists on the model in order to connect surfaces with each other, to be able to judge shapes and proportions better and to develop it step by step. Thus, visitors of the museum can experience the Ferrari design process at first hand.

Designing the future

“The future is in the hands of those who anticipate it.” This is Flavio Manzoni’s winning formula. With his work for Ferrari, he has always shown that foresight. As leader of a team of over 100 designers, he is decisively involved in forming the future of Ferrari.

In close collaboration with the technical and development department, the Head of Design and his crew do not simply design cars, but objects of desire. With state-of-the-art technology and an emotionally appealing design language, the designers create an incomparable driving and brand experience. In the last five years, 14 distinctions went to in the Red Dot Award: Product Design – five times in a row even the Red Dot: Best of the Best award.

In addition to the exhibition “Designing Dreams: Ferrari Design Team”, “Milestones in Contemporary Design 2019” and “Design on Stage 2019” are presented in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen on the Zollverein World Heritage Site. Visitors can discover all of the products, which were awarded a prize in the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2019, on 4,000 m².