When you talk to great men, you realise it immediately.
They are 'the ones' who put you at ease from the start, who strip away all formalism and above all leave you with great messages in a matter of minutes, without the attitude of someone who stands as a solon of this or that life lesson.
This is exactly what happened with Maurizio Corbi. We 'met' him by phone in an interview for Design Lifestyle. For over 30 years senior car designer at Pininfarinawhere he arrived in 1989, Maurizio Corbi has worked with companies in the sector such as Aviointeriors and Bertone and combines his work as a car designer with teaching automotive design at institutions such as Italian Design Institute.
A passion, his, for drawing that began as a child. He was about 10 years old, when he would amaze teachers and parents with his sketches, showing a talent that later found its natural evolution in his studies in architecture and in the deepening of industrial design first and the car design then.
"I believe that the gift of being able to draw is something that just happens to you,' he says. I started drawing as a young boy and I remember that at school the teachers used to compete for my notebooks. Then my studies went in that direction and the rest came by itself'.
Like his passion for cars, an atavistic love that Corbi has always nurtured, coupled with that concept of freedom, of travelling, of going par excellence that has always distinguished him.
What should Maurizio Corbi's car look like? What criteria must it meet?
The car for me must first and foremost reflect an element of sobriety. It's a characteristic that I like very much and that, especially in the past, many car manufacturers have tried to follow, adopting a language that I was perfectly in tune with. Today, it seems to me that the automotive sector is going through a moment of schizophrenia, in which we are witnessing an inexplicable inconsistency: on the one hand, there is the need to refocus the attention of the automotive industry on ethical choices that are more sensitive to environmental issues, while on the other, the market is pushing for large cars, following an American example that certainly does not suit the Italian social lifestyle. The absurd thing is that the car, which has always been a symbol of freedom, has almost made us slaves of an object that is increasingly a way of appearing. Today's cars are, in my opinion, too ornate and too aggressive; they should instead be more intelligent, and abandon this mania for volumes and decorativism as an end in itself, and return to an evocative charm that is authentic. In short, in the face of the hypocrisy and widespread incoherence of increasingly short-sighted manufacturers, bent on producing large cars while showing indifference to the demands coming from the real world, Pininfarina's car designer line remains faithful to that linear, minimalist style, the synthesis of a thirty-year career in a sector that in any case has to do with art, aesthetics and beauty.
At the same time, Maurizio Corbi elegantly 'berates' this excessive focus on the figure of the car designer, offering us food for thought against the trend: 'I'm always amazed by all this spotlight on people who do this job. It embarrasses me when people still talk to me as if I were a star (laughs ed). And in the end I think it's necessary to rethink everything, to look at things and people with the right attention... Yes, in short, we don't save lives!
Can you tell us a funny anecdote related to your career?
I remember once I was working on a Ferrari project for Sergio Pininfarina. We had organised an internal presentation and I remember that on that occasion he was not convinced by some of my car design choices. At that point, the then director Lorenzo Ramacciotti suggested I try again with the same sketch but changing the colour. Well, the design was approved at the next presentation...
Graphics tablet or freehand drawing?
As much as the graphics tablet and all the tools that have been introduced in recent years are a very valuable support for those who do this work, my heart is in drawing on paper. It is in this dimension that I rediscover the total freedom to express myself, in a material contact with paper, in a space that also allows me the freedom to make mistakes and to look at error...I think it is splendid, don't you?
Car designer and lecturer: what do you try to convey to the young people who attend your courses first of all?
I believe that the first thing you have to teach young people who want to pursue a career as a car designer, and this is something I am always very keen on, is professional ethics. Before car designers we need good people, who know how to work in a team and who don't chase loopholes to emerge in this as in other sectors. I strongly believe that talent, if one has it, will be recognised sooner or later.
