American Business Group Milan

Speaker for January 2019

Paolo Pininfarina

Chairman, Pininfarina Group

Paolo Pininfarina was born in Turin on August 28, 1958.

After graduating in Mechanical Engineering at Turin Polytechnic he began his career in Pininfarina in 1982 and in 1983 gained experience working at Cadillac in Detroit, USA, and then in Japan with Honda.

From 1984 to 1986 he was Quality and Reliability Manager for Cadillac's Allanté project.

From 1987 to 1989 he was Program Manager at General Motors for the Engineering GM 200 project.

In 1987 he was appointed Chairman and CEO of Pininfarina Extra S.r.l., a Pininfarina Group company operating in the industrial, furnishing, architectural and nautical and aeronautical design sectors. Under his management, in a 25-year period Pininfarina Extra has developed more than 500 projects and has consolidated relationships with prestigious international companies like Alenia Aermacchi, Bovet, Calligaris, Chivas Regal, Coca-Cola, Costa Coffee, Fincantieri, Gorenje, Juventus, Lavazza, Martini&Rossi, Motorola, Petronas, Samsung, Schaefer, Snaidero and Unilever.

From 1999 to 2004 he has been a member of the Scientific Committee of Turin's European Institute of Design.

In 2001 he became "Emeritus Participating Founder" of the ADI Foundation for Italian Design.

At the Pininfarina S.p.A. parent company he became a board member in 1988, from 2002 he has been a member of the Steering Committee and, again starting 2002, in his capacity as the head of the Quality System Department he contributed to the award of ISOTS/16949 certification to the Company, which took place in July 2003. On May 12, 2006 he was appointed Deputy Chairman of Pininfarina S.p.A.

On August 12, 2008 he was appointed Chairman of Pininfarina S.p.A.

From 2011 to 2013 he was Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Farnesina Design Collection.

On June 2011 France recognized him as "Italian Personality of the Year" for his contribution to the success of the electric car sharing program Autolib for Paris.

Since 2012 he has been part of the Board of the Research Foundation Molinette Onlus.

On April 2014 he was appointed President of the company network E.B.T. - Exclusive Brands Torino, of which he has been Vice President from 2011.

From beginning of 2015 he is member of the Strategic Committee of LIDE Italia.

On March 25 2017 he was appointed member of the Board of the Italian Chamber of Commerce IICUAE in Dubai.

These are just some of the many awards received:

2018: Honorable Mention of the ADI Compasso d'Oro Award to yacht Tango WallyCento4
2018: International Yacht and Aviation design Award to business class seat Iacobucci Cambiano
2018: iF Design Award to the Lavazza Firma coffee machines
2018: Red Dot Design Award to the cookware Collection Stile
February 21, 2017: Snaidero Aria by Pininfarina wins 2016 Good Design Award
February 7, 2017: the iF Design Award 2017 to electric bike E-voluzione
October, 27 2016: German Design Award to Fincantieri yacht Ottantacinque
September 7 2016: International Architecture Award 2016 to the Control Tower of the new Istanbul Airport
August 31 2016: Eurobike Award to the electric bike E-voluzione
August 31 2016: Hyper Vélo de l'année 2016/2017 to the bike De Rosa SK Pininfarina
February 23 2016: iF Design Award to Cyrela by Pininfarina, luxury building in Sao Paulo, Brazil
December 29, 2015: Good Design Award to headphones Magnat LZR 980 by Pininfarina
November 13, 2015 : 2015 American Architecture Award for Vitra, a luxury residential building in Brazil
November 6, 2015: Anuga Awards to the Lauretana bottle Precious for best packaging of the international product in the Beverage category
November 18, 2014: “Trophée du design et de l'attrait technologique” for the writing instruments Forever Pininfarina Cambiano
May 12, 2014: Best Contemporary Style for the Visconti pen Pininfarina Carbongrafite
December 6, 2013: Design Award at the Trophées Internationaux du Stilographe and Best Design Award at the Middle East Premier Awards for the Visconti pen Pininfarina Carbongrafite.
June 4, 2013: red dot design award 2013 for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 interiors.
October 30, 2012: Platinum Design of the Times Award for the dispenser Coca-Cola Freestyle.
February 1st, 2012: 2011 Good Design Award for the proprietary fountain beverage dispenser Coca-Cola Freestyle®.
December 19, 2011: 2011 Good Design Award for the Snaidero Ola 20 kitchen.
December 12, 2011: "Interior Innovation Award Winner 2012" for the Calligaris Orbital table.
May 9, 2011: Trophée Du Sadecc for the Snaidero Ola 20 kitchen.
December 10, 2008: FIABA 2008 award assigned by Italian Fund Elimination Architectural Barriers to DesignAbility exhibition.
June 23, 2008: honourable mention in the red dot design award for the 3M Air Purifier Ultraslim.
May 19 2008: Earth-Minded Award for the Keating Hotel by Pininfarina in San Diego.
December 20 2007: GOOD DESIGNℜ Awards 2007 assigned by the Chicago Athenaeum to the office furniture collection Uffix Luna.
July 26, 2007: Red dot award 2007 in the product design discipline to the Samsung LCD Monitor “Black Secret”.
April 12, 2007: special award for Packaging 2007 during the 41st edition of Vinitaly for the Gancia-Pininfarina wine bottles.
December 13, 2006: GOOD DESIGNℜ Awards 2006 assigned by the Chicago Athenaeum for three Pininfarina products: the 3M air purifier, the Snaidero "Venus" kitchen unit and SimpleTech's portable drive.
October 19, 2006: Simon Taylor Award assigned to Paolo Pininfarina by the British monthly magazine, Designer, for an "exceptional contribution to kitchen and bathroom design over the years".
November 8, 2006: Design Excellence Award assigned by the BIO 20 international jury to the Gorenje refrigerator at the Biennial Industrial Design Exhibition in Lubiana (Slovenia).
May 9, 2006: a jury of visitors to EIMU voted "Luna", the office furnishing collection produced by Uffix, the "ideal office" at the biennial dedicated to office furniture at the Milan International Furniture Show.
April 6, 2006: award for the best design in the work environment category to Ares Line to the "Premiere" modular auditorium seating system within the context of the Wellness@Work design competition.
July 5, 2004: Paolo Pininfarina won the “Red Dot: Design Team of the Year Award” for the best design team in 2004, assigned by Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen.
2004: "Compasso d'oro" nomination to Schroeder's “Francesca” lamp.
2004: GOOD DESIGN Award assigned by the Chicago Athenaeum for the Snaidero "Acropolis" kitchen unit.
December 1, 2003: the "Bernini" anti-panic door bar designed for Savio was awarded second prize for best design in the “Quincailleries & Accessoires” category during the 2003 edition of Batimat in Paris.
October 30, 2002: the DICOM wireless projector is one of seven winners of the 35th Smau Industrial Design Award.
2001: "Compasso d'oro" nomination to the Salvagnini "L2" laser cutter.
1996: GOOD DESIGN Award assigned by the Chicago Athenaeum for the Snaidero "OLA" kitchen unit.
1992: Cover Award assigned by Auto & Design to Pininfarina Extra
1991: Design & Engineering Award - C.E.S. Las Vegas to Vidikron VPF40 video projector.

Profile courtesy of DIREZIONE COMUNICAZIONE E IMMAGINE - www.pininfarina.com – info@pininfarina.com