4 thoughts on “Whatever Happened To….Enrico Fumia”
Fumia tried to use a trope from the Lancia Ypsilon, a single loop running around the car. The glasshouse behind the b-pillar doesn’t relate to it and it doesn’t integrate with the shape inside the side glass of the door. And the front graphics are simplistic. Did Fumia really do this? His other work is so much more advanced. This car says 19 year-old student to me.
I think Fumia went too far on this with his Quadrifrontale theme. First seen on the Lancia Y 840, the Quadrifrontale consisted on using the same basic lines on each view of the car (front, back and profile), hence its name. On the little Lancia I think it worked pretty well, the Y is full of curved lines and arches that seem to flow all over the body defining volumes and shutlines.
The Lybra he was working on at the time showed a much toned down quadrifrontale approach, possibly given the car’s intended segment. From then, I think Fumia went “mad” when he realised that Fiat’s management would never greenlight a Lancia prettier than an Alfa of the same size, and impose him strict red lines on how a Lancia should look. Most notable disagreement was the k Coupè, which led Fumia to resign from his role of the brand’s Styling Director.
A really good designer doesn´t have rigid schticks like that. I like to think design is like method acting. The designer´s personality ought to be very secondary and so they produce distinctly different looks for each thing they produce. The Kappa coupe was worth resigning over. While I like it personally because it´s nicely made and quirky, it´s really flawed in a lot of small ways. As it happens, a Peugeot 406 coupe lives on my street and I can see how Pininfarina polished a good but ordinary design with a suite of lovely flourishes. It´s worth a photo study, I think. The Kappa is also a good but plain-looking car. If it had recieved the same sort of polishing the 406 coupe got then it would have been one of those classical beauties Lancia used to do and people would probably be in awe of it today instead of ignorant or bemused.
You seem well versed on Fumia and design history. Is this special insight or just good general knowledge? We like this kind of thing here!
Well, most designers’ creativity seems to come with a sell-by date, doesn’t it? Fumia has done fantastic work with the Ypsilon in the mid-’90s, just as his Alfa designs were stellar examples of late ’80s to early ’90s styling. Maybe he’s just run out of ideas.
Either that, or, as an executive stylist, he’d become accustomed to a level of craftsmanship (in terms of actual or CAD modelling et al) at Fiat that he couldn’t secure in a freelance capacity.
Fumia tried to use a trope from the Lancia Ypsilon, a single loop running around the car. The glasshouse behind the b-pillar doesn’t relate to it and it doesn’t integrate with the shape inside the side glass of the door. And the front graphics are simplistic. Did Fumia really do this? His other work is so much more advanced. This car says 19 year-old student to me.
I think Fumia went too far on this with his Quadrifrontale theme. First seen on the Lancia Y 840, the Quadrifrontale consisted on using the same basic lines on each view of the car (front, back and profile), hence its name. On the little Lancia I think it worked pretty well, the Y is full of curved lines and arches that seem to flow all over the body defining volumes and shutlines.
The Lybra he was working on at the time showed a much toned down quadrifrontale approach, possibly given the car’s intended segment. From then, I think Fumia went “mad” when he realised that Fiat’s management would never greenlight a Lancia prettier than an Alfa of the same size, and impose him strict red lines on how a Lancia should look. Most notable disagreement was the k Coupè, which led Fumia to resign from his role of the brand’s Styling Director.
A really good designer doesn´t have rigid schticks like that. I like to think design is like method acting. The designer´s personality ought to be very secondary and so they produce distinctly different looks for each thing they produce. The Kappa coupe was worth resigning over. While I like it personally because it´s nicely made and quirky, it´s really flawed in a lot of small ways. As it happens, a Peugeot 406 coupe lives on my street and I can see how Pininfarina polished a good but ordinary design with a suite of lovely flourishes. It´s worth a photo study, I think. The Kappa is also a good but plain-looking car. If it had recieved the same sort of polishing the 406 coupe got then it would have been one of those classical beauties Lancia used to do and people would probably be in awe of it today instead of ignorant or bemused.
You seem well versed on Fumia and design history. Is this special insight or just good general knowledge? We like this kind of thing here!
Well, most designers’ creativity seems to come with a sell-by date, doesn’t it? Fumia has done fantastic work with the Ypsilon in the mid-’90s, just as his Alfa designs were stellar examples of late ’80s to early ’90s styling. Maybe he’s just run out of ideas.
Either that, or, as an executive stylist, he’d become accustomed to a level of craftsmanship (in terms of actual or CAD modelling et al) at Fiat that he couldn’t secure in a freelance capacity.