Fabio Filippini (born in Ghislarengo, VC, 1963) is an Italian
car designer
Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance (and to some extent the ergonomics) of motor vehicles, including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans.
The functional design and development of a modern motor ...
. Former Design Director of
Pininfarina
Pininfarina S.p.A. (; ; short for Pininfarina Società per Azioni) is an Italian automotive design, car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 ...
, is currently an independent Car Design consultant and Design Strategy advisor.
Background
Graduate in Car Design, in 1983, at Scuola d'Arte Applicata e Design in Torino, followed in 1989 by a master's degree with Honors, in Architecture and Industrial Design at
Politecnico di Milano
The Polytechnic University of Milan (, abbreviated as PoliMi) is a university in Milan, Italy. It is the largest technical university in the country, with about 40,000 enrolled students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate, and higher ...
.
Career
He started his design career in 1985 at Open Design in Torino, an independent studio created by Aldo Sessano, working on various design projects for clients as Mitsubishi Motors, SEAT and Scania, among others.
In 1989, he moved to Japan to work at Design Club International, in
Hakone
is a List of towns in Japan, town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 10,965, and total area of .
Hakone is a notable spa town and a popular tourist destination due to its many onsen, hot springs being within view of ...
. This 4-year long experience gave him the opportunity to work in many design projects for Japanese and European car manufacturer, and at the same time learning about Japanese culture and sense of aesthetic.
In 1993, Fabio Filippini joined
Renault
Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...
Design Industriel, under
Patrick Le Quément
Patrick Gilles Marie Le Quément (born 4 February 1945) is a retired French car designer, formerly chief designer of Renault.
Born in France but brought up in the United Kingdom, Le Quément holds a BA Hons. degree in Product Design from Bir ...
, at the Advanced Design department in
Boulogne Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...
. He worked on advanced research programs, designing the interior of th
Renault Initiale Parisconcept car, presented in world premiere in September 1995 at
Bagatelle
Bagatelle (from the Château de Bagatelle) is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls (set at nine in the 19th century) past wooden pins (which act as obstacles) into holes that are guarded by wood ...
's Louis Vuitton Classic, and immediately after at
Frankfurt IAA. Consequently, he moved to the Interior Design department at Rueil Malmaison, and later at the newly created Technocentre, in
Guyancourt
Guyancourt () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero ...
.
In 1997 he joined Volkswagen-Audi Group at their Design Center Europe, in
Sitges
; , ) is a town about 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain, renowned worldwide for Sitges Film Festival, its film festival, Carnival, and LGBTQ culture. Located between the Garraf Massif and the Mediterranean Sea, it is know ...
(Spain). As Interior Design Supervisor, he designed various advanced project for the different brands of the group; in particular he worked on the interior proposal for the
Audi A8
The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury vehicle, luxury sedan (car), sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi since 1994. Succeeding the Audi V8, and now in its fourth generation, the A8 has been offered with either front-wheel dri ...
(2nd gen.), subsequently developed by the Ingolstadt design team.
In 2000 Filippini returned to Renault Design, becoming in 2002 Director of Renault Design Paris, creating the new satellite studio located at
Bastille
The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a ...
. During five years of his tenure, he managed a 30 people design team, working on many advanced design programs (Laguna III, Kangoo II) and developing the advanced research for the whole new
Mégane III (W95) platform. He returned to Technocentre in 2006, to take full responsibility as Design Director of the M1 Range, designing and developing with his team the whole
Mégane/
Scénic III production family of cars (X95).
In 2008 he was appointed Vice-President Interior Design, redefining the Interior Design Strategy of Renault Group, and managing the interior design of the whole new range of products developed under
Laurens Van den Acker
Laurens van den Acker (born 5 September 1965, Deurne, North Brabant) is a Dutch automobile designer. He is the Chief Design Officer of the Renault Group.
Biography
Van den Acker studied at the Delft University of Technology, where he obt ...
(
Renault Clio IV,
Zoé,
Captur,
Twingo
The Renault Twingo is a city car made by the French company Renault from 1992 to 2024 across three generations. The name is a portmanteau of ''twist'', ''swing'', and ''tango''.
The first-generation Twingo (two door, front engine) debuted at t ...
III and
Espace
Espace may refer to:
*ESPACE, a complexity class in computational complexity theory
*Espace musique, a Canadian radio service
*Espace 2, a Swiss radio station
*Radio Espace, a French radio station
*Espace Group, a French media company
*Group Espace ...
V;
Dacia Duster
The Dacia Duster is a family of Subcompact crossover SUV, subcompact crossovers produced and marketed jointly by the France, French manufacturer Renault and its Romanian subsidiary Automobile Dacia, Dacia since 2010, currently in its third ge ...
ph2,
Lodgy/Dokker,
Logan
Logan may refer to:
Places
* Mount Logan (disambiguation)
Australia
* Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly
* Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud
* Logan City, local gove ...
2,
Sandero 2). In parallel of his main design responsibilities, he has been member of the executive Joint Design Policy Group, between Renault/Nissan Design's organisations, as well as responsible for the operations o
Renault Design America Latinas studio in Sao Paulo, Brasil.
In 2011 he became Vice President Design - Chief Creative Officer at Pininfarina, in
Cambiano
Cambiano () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italy, Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin.
Cambiano borders the following municipalities: Pino Torinese, Chieri, Pecetto Torinese, Moncalie ...
. During his six-year's long design leadership, Pininfarina Design team has created many remarkable award-winning concept cars:
Pininfarina Cambiano,
Pininfarina Sergio,
BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupe,
Pininfarina H2Speed
(the first full-hydrogen track car), as well as designing production cars projects for worldwide major OEMs and Premium Brands, including other transportation vehicles, like the Eurostar e320 train and the Zetor Concept Tractor. His latest works at Pininfarina are the concepts
Fittipaldi EF7 Vision Gran Turismo and Hybrid Kinetic H600, presented at the
Geneva Motor Show 2017.
In 2018 he moved to
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, working internationally as independent Car Designer and Design Strategy advisor.
Besides his professional design activity, Fabio Filippini serves as international judge at the most renown classic car's concours in the world, such as
Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is an annual automotive event held on the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. It is widely considered the most prestigious car show in the world and it is the pinnacle ''Concours d'Elegance'' c ...
, in California, Salon Privé in England, Chantilly Art & Elegance in France, and The Peninsula Classic Best of the Best Award.
Design

* Renault Initiale Paris Concept (1995)
* Renault Kangoo II (2007)
*
Renault Mégane III (2008)
*
Renault Scénic
The Renault Scénic (), also spelled without the acute accent as Scenic, especially in languages other than French, is a car which was produced by Automotive industry in France, French car manufacturer Renault, the first to be labelled as a com ...
III (2009)
*
Pininfarina Cambiano Concept (2012)

*
Pininfarina Sergio Concept (2013)
*
BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupe (2013)

* Pininfarina H2Speed Concept (2016)

*
Fittipaldi EF7 Vision Gran Turismo by Pininfarina (2017)

* Pininfarina HK H600 (2017)
* Zetor Concept Tractor by Pininfarina (2015)
Awards
* "Car Design Award" 1996 (Renault Initiale Paris Concept)
* "Interior Design of the Year" Automotive Interiors Expo 2012 Awards (Pininfarina Cambiano Concept)
* "Premio per l'Innovazione ADI" Design Index 2013 (Pininfarina Cambiano Concept)
*
Compasso d'Oro
The Compasso d'Oro (; ) is an industrial design award originated in Italy in 1954. Initially sponsored by the La Rinascente, a Milanese department store, the award has been organised and managed by the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI ...
ADI "Honorable mention" 2014 (Pininfarina Cambiano Concept)
* "Best Design Study" Autonis Design Awards 2013 (Pininfarina Sergio Concept)
* "Good Design Award" 2013 (Bmw Pininfarina GranLusso Coupe)
* "Concept Car of the Year Award" by ''Automobile magazine US'' (Pininfarina H2Speed Concept)
References
External links
Renault Design
{{DEFAULTSORT:Filippini, Fabio
1963 births
Living people
Italian automobile designers
Pininfarina people
People from the Province of Vercelli