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Pio Manzù

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Pio Manzù
Pio Manzù around 1964 working on the NSU Autonova GT concept
Pio Manzù around 1964 working on the NSU Autonova GT concept
Born
Pio Manzoni

(1939-03-02)March 2, 1939
Bergamo, Italy
DiedMay 26, 1969(1969-05-26) (aged 30)
Brandizzo, Italy
Burial placeCimitero monumentale di Bergamo
45°41′55″N 9°41′27″E / 45.69861654069445°N 9.690904101166039°E / 45.69861654069445; 9.690904101166039
NationalityItalian
Alma materUlm School of Design
Occupation(s)designer, architect
Years active1964-1969
EmployerFiat
Notable workFiat 127, Cronotime
SpouseEleonora Liebi
Children2
Parent

Pio Manzù (officially Pio Manzoni), born 2 March 1939 in Bergamo, Italy, deceased 26 May 1969 in Brandizzo, Italy, was an Italian designer of cars and home furnishings. One of his best known designs is that of the Fiat 127.

Education

A son of sculptor Giacomo Manzù and his first wife Antonia Oreni, Pio Manzù studied at the School of Design in Ulm, Germany, with the objective to specialise in industrial design, under the guidance of Argentine designer and philosopher Tomás Maldonado. After his graduation in 1964 as the first Italian at this institution[1], he continued as a teaching assistant at the Ulm school. In 1962 he entered an international competition of the Swiss magazine Année Automobile, which he won with a design for an Austin Healey 3000. The prize was that the design would be executed by Carrozzeria Pininfarina, who displayed it at motorshows in Turin and London.

Work

Autonova

Autonova Fam, designed by Busch, Conrad and Manzù

Manzù realised a number of projects for interior decoration and started collaborating with several international publications, writing articles and making designs in the automotive field.

In 1965, together with automotive writer Fritz Bob Busch and fellow-Ulm-graduate Michael Conrad, Manzù set up the project group Autonova, that came with prototypes Autonova GT and Van Autonova Fam. The latter immediately caught the attention of engineer Dante Giacosa, head of the Fiat development department and styling center. But also the management of companies like NSU, Glas, Pirelli, Recaro, VDO and BASF had an eye on these concept cars.

Furniture and more

Other designs that carry the signature of the designer from Lombardy were in the field of home accessories. An example is the table clock Cronotime, that resembles the exhaust pipes or cooling water hoses of a car engine, and which was originally made as a giveaway for Fiat customer relations. It then became a Ritz-Italora product that was available in La Rinascente department store and has been included in the MoMA collection. Later it was added to the Alessi catalog, in which it currently still is. Other product designs were writing and desktop materials for Kartell.

Flos Parentesi lamp by Pio Manzù and Achille Castiglioni

Also, Manzù designed an automobile inspired lounge chair and a one-legged table for Alias. The lamp Parentesi (brand FLOS, over 800,000 sold[2]) was developed by Achille Castiglioni in 1971, based on a sketch made earlier by Manzù; the lamp is in the MoMA collection as well and was awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1979.[3][4]

Manzù also worked as a consultant for Piaggio and Olivetti.[5][6][3]

The collaboration with these companies, together with the support of the Turin coachbuilders Sibona & Basano, lead to the realisation of prototypes Glas 1004 Autonova Fam, on the basis of the Glas 1004, and NSU Prinz Autonova GT, based on the NSU Prinz and NSU Ro 80.

In 1969, Manzù was the only non-French jury member for the selection of the Bolide Design exhibition organised by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.[7][8]

Fiat projects

Fiat City Taxi concept car

At Fiat Styling Center, Dante Giacosa at first was hesitant about the newly hired consultant Manzù's ability to fit in with the strict procedures of industrialisation of a product design.[9] In 1968, the first experience, however, lead to the execution of a concept car for the use as taxi, on the mechanical basis of the Fiat 850 and with cutting-edge technical and styling solutions that Manzù had already developed at Autonova.[10] The result, the Fiat City Taxi, was sort of a monospace avant-la-lettre and, however it did not go into production, stylistically formed the basis of what a few years later would become the successor to the Fiat 500, the 126.[9]

Another project in 1968 was the Autobianchi sports coupé G.31, which had already been started by OSI a few years before. Manzù had to bring it back to life, and did so very much to the satisfaction of Giacosa as well as the public, because the response during its display at the Turin Auto Show was very positive. Nevertheless, it was decided that the car would not see production.[9]

Fiat 127 of 1971

Manzù's work convinced Giacosa to entrust him, in the same year, with the styling of the Fiat 127, a new car that was to become a revolutionary concept for the people's car and a reference for the global car production in the 1970s.[11] Almost 8 million would be built in two decades.[12]

Death

Pio Manzù never saw the result of his French museum judging job or his important project at the Fiat Styling Center. In fact, he was on his way to the presentation of the final Fiat 127 mock-up to the top management, in May 1969, when he had a one-sided car accident on the A4 autostrada Milan-Turin, near the toll booths of the Brandizzo exit, just 10 km before reaching Turin. Having come home late the night before, and having left early to get to the 8.00 a.m. presentation in time, Manzù had chosen to drive his wife's Fiat 500 instead of his own Fiat Dino. For an unknown reason, his car had rolled over. Manzù died in the ambulance before it reached the hospital.[13]

Other recognition

  • Apart from the items in the MoMA collection, parts of Manzù's work are also in the collections of Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Bergamo and in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich.[14][15]
  • In 1969, the UN founded Pio Manzù International Research Centre in Rimini, Italy, in order to facilitate studies of economic and scientific aspects of the relationship between man and his environment. It closed in 2016.
  • Fondazione Manzù has been established in order to support high-profile initiatives, projects and events to encourage studies and research in the field of design, technology of materials, production processes, means and infrastructures for mobility, and environment.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Pio Manzù (1939-1969)" (in Italian). archimagazine. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
  2. ^ "With 800,000 pieces sold from its creation". Illuminée. Retrieved 2024-07-06.
  3. ^ a b "Produkte designed by Pio Manzù" (in German). archiproducts. Archived from the original on 2022-12-04. Retrieved 2024-06-01.
  4. ^ "XI edizione premio Compasso d'oro ADI" [11th Edition of the ADI Golden Compass Award] (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2024-04-01. Retrieved 2024-07-04.
  5. ^ Source: Biography in "archimagazine.com"
  6. ^ Source: L'importanza di chiamarsi Manzù, article in "milanodabere.it" Archived 2011-11-23 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Mathey, François (1970). Bolide design: Paris, Musée des arts décoratifs, 31 janvier-30 avril 1970 [Bolide design: Paris, Museum of decorative arts, 31 January-30 April 1970]. Union centrale des arts décoratifs.
  8. ^ "Présentation" (in French). MAD Paris. Archived from the original on 2024-03-04. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
  9. ^ a b c Giacosa, Dante (2014) [1st pub. Automobilia, 1979]. My 40 years of designing at Fiat. Centro Storico Fiat. p. 272.
  10. ^ Licata, Matteo. "Pio Manzù: Brilliance and Tragedy". Roadster life. Archived from the original on 2023-09-26. Retrieved 2024-07-04.
  11. ^ Sannia, Alessandro (2012). Fiat 127: 1971-1987 (in Italian). Turin, Italy: Il Cammello. p. 19. ISBN 9788896796078.
  12. ^ "Fiat 127. The revolution that led from the front". Stellantis Europe S.p.A. Archived from the original on 2024-02-29. Retrieved 2024-07-06.
  13. ^ "Il figlio dello scultore Manzù muore nell'auto che si rovescia" [The son of sculpture Manzù dies in car that rolls over]. La Stampa (in Italian). Vol. 103, no. 123. 1969-05-27. p. 4.
  14. ^ "Pio Manzù. When the world was modern". GAMeC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo. Archived from the original on 2024-05-17. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
  15. ^ "autonova fam... und was GLAS mit diesem Familien-Van zu tun hat" [Autonova fam... and what GLAS has to do with this family van] (in German). Initiative Kulturgut Mobilität e.V. Archived from the original on 2023-12-06. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
  16. ^ "Fondazione Pio Manzù". Archived from the original on 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
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