Walter de silva biography

Walter Maria de Silva (born 27 February 1951) is an Italian car designer and former head of Volkswagen Group Design, until 2015.
Walter Maria de Silva is an Italian car designer and former head of Volkswagen Group Design, until 2015.
The 67-year-old Lecco-born designer began his career in Fiat in the 1970s before honing his skills with the likes of Rodolfo Bonetto, Franco.

•

Walter Maria de Silva (born 27 February 1951, Lecco, Italy) was an Italian car designer and former head of Volkswagen Group Design until 2015. His career began in 1972 when he worked as an apprentice car designer at Fiat’s Style Centre. De Silva also worked at the I.D.E.A. Institute and as head of design for the Alfa Romeo, SEAT and Audi brand groups.

Some of the highlights of his career include:
Alfa Romeo (1986-1999).
SEAT (1999-2002): Ferdinand Piëch commissioned De Silva to inject sportiness and emotion into the design of the SEAT division of the Volkswagen Group. The result was the „SEAT auto emoción” philosophy, first seen in the SEAT Salsa concept car in 2000 and the SEAT Tango concept car in 2001. The latter was awarded the „Autonis Prize” in the „Concept Car” category.
Audi brand group (2002-2007): in March 2002, De Silva was appointed Head of Design of the defunct Audi brand group, which comprised the Audi, SEAT and Lamborghini brands. He was responsible for creating an emotive design language for the Audi range, including the i

•

Walter de Silva

Italian car designer

For other people with the same name, see Walter Silva (disambiguation).

Walter Maria de Silva

Born	(1951-02-27) 27 February 1951 (age 73) Lecco, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Occupation	Designer
Years active	1972-present

Walter Maria de Silva (born 27 February 1951) is an Italian car designer and former head of Volkswagen Group Design, until 2015. Since beginning his car design career in 1972 as trainee car designer for Fiat's Style Centre. De Silva has also worked as a designer at I.DE.A Institute, and as head of design for Alfa Romeo, SEAT and the 'Audi brand group'.^[1] He is presently President of the Design Studio Walter De Silva & Partners.

Career

Fiat, 1972–1977

Walter de Silva began his career in 1972 at age 21, working for Centro Stile Fiat.^[1]

I.DE.A. Institute, 1977–1986

After his experience at Fiat, Walter de Silva worked at the I.DE.A Institute in Turin, Italy for nine years under the direction of Franco Mantegazza and Renzo Piano.

•

Walter De Silva

Designer of undeniable talent, with a youthful love for the automobile and a strong, determined character. Since winning the "car of the year" award five times as evidence of his extraordinary skill, his name has been linked to excellence in the automotive sector.

He began his career in 1972 at Fiat SpA Turin at the Centro Stile and then joined the firm of Rodolfo Bonetto in Milan, where he designed car interiors. From 1979 to 1986, he was invited by Franco Mantegazza and Renzo Piano to direct the Design Department of the IDEA Institute. In 1986 Alfa Romeo asked him to become Director of the Centro Stile. Starting in 1999 he managed the design department of the Seat brand.

He later became Design Director of Audi Group (Audi, Seat, Lamborghini). The goal is precise: to relaunch Audi autos with unique and emotional design. He is responsible for the new path taken by Audi's style that immediately asserts itself with an extraordinary design, thanks to the famous "single frame" front.

On January 1, 2007, he took over the Design Management of the Volkswagen Gro