العربيةIn 1969, Pio Manzoni, better known as Pio Manzù, was one of the rising stars of Italian industrial design. A year earlier, he had designed a small, prototype, utilitarian car for Fiat. The design was way ahead of its time and never went into production. Another of his designs for Fiat though did roll off the production lines in Turin. The Manzù-designed 127 was released in 1971. Fiat sold a million of them within three years and the car was still in production in the 1990s. Committed to simple, affordable but elegant design, Manzù would have been thrilled by the embrace of the 127. Unfortunately, he never got to enjoy its success. He crashed his Fiat 500 on the way to present the 127 designs to Fiat senior management and died on the way to the hospital. He was 30 years old. Manzù’s interests stretched beyond the automotive, though. His designs included the Cronotime desk clock and his talent was noticed by the elder statesmen of Italian design, including Achille Castiglioni. The two de…
