Paolo Pininfarina

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.

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.

Under his management, in a twenty-year period Pininfarina Extra has developed over 400 projects and has consolidated relationships with prestigious international companies like Alenia Aeronautica, Jacuzzi, Juventus, Lange, Lavazza, Motorola, Packard Bell, Primatist, Snaidero and 3M.

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.




These are just some of the many awards received:

• December 10, 2008: FIABA 2008 award assigned by Fondo Italiano Abbattimento Barriere Architettoniche (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 DESIGN™ 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 DESIGN™ 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 – Innovation – C.E.S. Las Vegas to the Vidikron VPF40 video projector.


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