Visions in Design
PAOLO MARTIN with GAUTAM SEN, Dalton Watson, £95, ISBN 978 1 956309 00 3
Naturally, being an Italian car designer, Paolo Martin has a pasta machine to his credit. Since he went his own way in 1976, there have been boats, trucks, many a motorcycle, sanitaryware, lighting, a hairdryer (standard fitment on cruise ships), watches, a coffee pot (as predictable as the pasta machine), a cheesegrater – even a McDonald’s Drive In. And as you scroll through photo after photo in this book of his works, you may spot a recurring theme: the Ferrari Modulo.
Yes, Martin’s own late-1960s masterpiece has even cropped up as a deckchair. Or, being fairer to its intended concept, as modular garden furniture. We’ll come back to that because, although this concept car is easily Martin’s most significant calling card, the story behind it might surprise you. And there’s far more to learn about the man beforehand.