The Ferrari and Pininfarina partnership is perhaps one of the most famous tie-up in the automotive sphere, spawning some of the most memorable sports cars we’ve ever seen. But now that automotive technology has moved on, car designs, too, needs to move away from its past – and who better to head up that task than perhaps the most influential industrial designer of our times, Sir Jony Ive?
Ferrari and its parent company, Exor, has announced a new “long term, multi-year collaboration” with LoveFrom, the design firm headed by the former Apple designer and Marc Newsom. But before you get all excited, we think it’s our duty to tell you that… we have absolutely no idea what’s going to come out of this partnership.
The Ferrari Portofino M has just been launched in Malaysia! Check it out here.
The press release is – as usual – brief on specifics, but it does say that the first “expression” of the collaboration will “bring together Ferrari’s legendary performance and excellence, with LoveFrom’s unrivalled experience and creativity that has defined extraordinary world changing products”. Which, really, could mean anything from lifestyle products (like Porsche Design-branded items) to actual cars – pretty wishy-washy.
The next line from the copy does read “beyond the collaboration with Ferrari, LoveFrom will explore a range of creative projects with Exor in the business of luxury”, so hopefully that means that the actual Ferrari part of the deal will actually involve designing cars – but we won’t know until something is actually unveiled in the future.
In case you didn’t know, Exor is also involved in a couple of big name luxury fashion brands, including the French shoe and bag maker Christian Louboutin. And with Ferrari recently embracing fashion with the launch of its own clothing line (and hosting a runway show in its factory…), it won’t be wild to assume that the LoveFrom partnership will be just that.
Still, we really do hope that this has something to do with that Ferrari EV that’s coming out in 2025…
Commenting on the new partnership, Ferrari Chairman John Elkann said, “Soon after LoveFrom was founded we began to talk with Jony and Marc about opportunities to combine their world-renowned creativity with ours, in complementary and incremental ways. Ferrari represents a first, exciting chance to do great things together as we build our future.”
Marc Newson and Sir Jony Ive added: “We are thrilled to be embarking on such an important, long term collaboration with Ferrari and more broadly Exor. As Ferrari owners and collectors, we could not be more excited about collaborating with this extraordinary company and in particular with the design team expertly led by Flavio Manzoni.
“We see some uniquely exciting opportunities working together which we believe will yield important and valuable work.”
As part of the tie-up, Ive will also be joining Exor’s Partners Council. This annual forum draws on the experience, expertise, and insights of a group of highly successful Exor friends and partners, to share ideas and explore potential business opportunities.
