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Pininfarina

Italian design
inside and out
At Pininfarina, what's on the inside counts as much as the company's radicai exterior signature.
Marzia Gandini tolks to Lorenzo Ramociotti and Ken Okuyama at Design Pininfarina about quaiity,
coherence and continuity

W:

lien you walk into the Pininfarina style center for a

[Tieeting you immediately feel tempted to take a
quick walk down the rows of cars displayed in the
museum. It's not merely the history of a single
famous brand, but rather of car design that strikes
you when the silhouettes of masterpieces such as the Giulietta
Spider, the many Ferraris or even the Peugeot 504 convertible
appear in front of you.
Past, present and future are continuously in touch in this mecca
of Italian design, as we can understand from the words of its key
authors, Lorenzo Ramaciotti, head of design, and Ken Okuyama,
who has been in charge of creative management since May this
year.Tiie former recalls the company's recent history to explain the
role played by interior design today;"Pininfarina has always been
renowned for its work in exterior design, and this is indeed our
principal field of consultancy. However, in the past 15 years we
have worked a great deal to develop our interior design
philosophy."

Prototype projects
To illustrate this point Ramaciotti observes and points out five
prototypes that were realized in the 1990s:"With the Kronos
concept of 1991 we developed our first truly significant interior
design project. What we wanted to do here was to separate the
neutral base of the background from the functional and furnishing
elements, which took on their own dimension. So the leather insert
in the door panel acts as armrest, but it also has an aesthetic value
in itself.The same applies to the dashboard, the seats or the central
tunneL Again,you find a similar but more intense concept in the

Head of design at Pininfarina Lorenzo Ramaciotti (seated) and Ken

Okuyoma, in charge ot creative management, are wor1<ing to develop
the Italian compan/s interior design philosophy

motfves I january/february 2005

Pininfarina

Ethos, which was presented in 1992. Here the basic structure is

conceived as a tub in which the exterior and interior continue from
one to the other.The functional elements are'hung'on aluminum
pipes, to give an idea of complete iightness,"
It's not hard during this short trip into Pininfarina's design
iiistory to understand crucial points in the Turin-based styie
center's work: coherence and continuity between bodywork and
interior, from both the conceptual and material points of view.
Ramaciotti explains:"ln 1994,with the Ethos 3,the idea ofthe
exterior entering the vehicle was refined and put side-by-slde with

other (at that time) more innovative solutions, such as a drive-bywire-like steering system or the six seats arranged in two rows.
With the Argento Vivo the following year we went into a totally
different kind of research, which was based on making the most of
a material like wood, both for its functional and decorative value.
Always keeping materials and technologies in mind, in 1996 - with
the small Eta Beta - we developed two themes which
subsequently had a large following: the transparent plastic
elements of the gear lever and instrument panel, and a fully
symmetrical dashboard."

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Pininfarina

Radical strength
All this research work has not just been an end in
itself, but has strongly influenced some ofthe
production vehicle interiors carrying the Pininfarina
name.
"In the Ferrari Enzo you ciearly see ti^e concept of
the structural crossbar which the instruments'hang'
from,"says Ramacioui/The first research drawings
promised some really extreme solutions, and even
though some aspects were later softened, the basic
concept remained the same. Also with the Maserati
Quattroporte we started off from a very strong idea,
exploring radical solutions to demonstrate the
brand's strength.The basic concept was the use of
wood in an architectural sense, with shaped boards,
hanging elements which could be isolated from the
rest but also closely related with each other"
The outstanding examples of interior design
quoted by Ramaciotti are quite distant from the
reality of mass-produced cars, but it is hard to
believe that the design of everyday interiors can be
so seducing."The work on interiors consists of
thousands of little details which together determine
quality and general beauty. Exteriors are noticed at
the first glance and can have immediate appeal.
Interiors are much more discreet and require more
attention,"comments Ramaciotti.
Spending your life driving a Ferrari could be the
dream of many, but real life is often very different and
you have to make compromises. Car builders and
their customers all know this. It must be difficult then
to try to respect all the limitations imposed by massproduced cars and maintain,at thesame time,a
Pininfarina identity in the interior design."It's more
complicated than designing the body, but in any
case the idea is the same.There are features which
define the atmosphere of an interior and which can
be influenced by our point of view. Our trademark
represents coherence within the whole vehicle and
continuity between exteriors and interiors.To achieve
rhis it's imperative to start off from a clear, strong,
even extreme, principal theme and then to work to
refine or, if necessary, to soften it."
Emotional answers
At the end of this journey into Pininfarina's past and
present, just before he passes the baton onto Ken
Okuyama, Ramaciotti dwells upon the future:"Ken's
arrival in our creative management means that there
will be further developments and consolidations in
our structure and thus in our way of working for our
clients. Nobody has a crystal ball. Even we, who are
involved in research and consultancy, are tuned into
a channel only three to four years in advance. I can't
see dominant ideas, as happened for example in the
1960s and the 1970s. Nowadays we find everything,
all the background ofthe past and also lots of new
ideas. What's really important is not to bring out
stunning concepts, but solutions that work, that

BS ianuar^/februnry 2005

The work on interiors consists of ttiousands of iittle details which together

determine qualtty ond generol beauty. Interiors are much more discreet and
require more attention - Ramaciotti.

Pininfarina

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Crucial to Pininfarina's work is

coherence and continuity between
bodywork and interior, a good
example being the Ferrari Enzo

transmit a strong emotional charge in the

context ofa particular model and the brand
it belongs to.This has always been our
design approach and it wili continue like
this."
It's an attitude that Okuyama seems to
share fully and which he has adopted
without difficultyi'Tve held this position
only since last May," he says "but, since I
worked here for six years in the past, in
close contact with Ramaciotti, I have found
it very easy to pick up the thread of
discourse again. Car design in general, like
all other sectors, is very different from what
it was ] 0 or even 20 years ago. Whatever
you design nowadays has to be very closely
related to a vast number of factors, like the
position of a brand in its country of origin
and, on the international scene, its tradition
and most of all its marketing and
production strategies. Possibly there's iess
room for the individual inspiration ofa
consultant like Pininfarina. But there is more
contact and collaboration with the client, in
a relationship of partnership and not only
of supply. Each builder has his own
philosophy, especially in Europe, and it's up
to us to fully understand it."

The right ingredients

Okuyama has very clear ideas on how this
has changed the role of interior design in
the building and selling of cars.'The interior

january/lebruary ZOQb, Interior !.,i.

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of a car has become one of the main reasons for choosing a

particular model and this means that its quality should become
the main aim," he believes."An example that comes to mind is the
work done by Audi in the past 10 years. Perhaps their cabins are
nothing radical, but the quality of materials and finishing is very
liigh. Certainly for the sake of quality and mass production
dynamics we may have to sacrifice originality, more inventive
solutions and shape. Nowadays interiors resemble each other a lot,
they are all based on very simple lines and on total comfort."
Okuyama emphasizes this concept with a cooking analogy:
"When you have top quality ingredients at your disposal, like for
example some marvellous fresh shrimps from the Italian Riviera,
there's no need for complicated recipes. All you need is a little oil
and a drop of lemon juice. But when the ingredients are poor or of
lesser quality, you have to disguise them a bit, possibly with sauces
or spices, which distract our taste buds from the basic foodstuffs!
When an interior is designed, there's a similar difference between
using natural hand-worked leather or printed plastic"
The designer's view ofthe situation also means differences in
the staff organization and in the way of working according to
Okuyama,"Once upon a time our work used to end with the
drawing or, at the most, with the model. Now it never finishes, it
continues when the vehicle is already being produced because we
have to understand the people's reactions, improve every minor
detail, ensure that it aiways satisfies car builders'and final
customers'needs for continuity, As from January 2005 we will have
a specialized sector for interior design, and a structure based on
team leaders who can work with continuity and autonomy on
single projects'!
Of Japanese origin, with years of study in the U5 and work in
Germany and Italy, Okuyama brings wide cultural influence to car
design, but an elective affinity clearly ties him to the country - and
to the place of creation - of Ferraris:"! fee! little influence from
Japanese design, because I have a!ways studied and worked
abroad, even though I have very high regard for the work done in
my homeland in the past few years. My personal culture seems to
understand Italian style much better. Possibly because I see it from
the outside.This applies in particular to the Pininfarina style. I can
understand its cultural basis especially because I am not Italian.The
future of Pininfarina design, from my point of view, will lie in
emphasis on its'ltalianness'and the spread of its natural
international vocation." A

hrtBriormoflves I january/Iebnjary 200

The interior of a car has become one of the main reasons for
choosing a particular model and this means that its quality
should become the main aim - Okuyama