Flaminio Bertoni

Flaminio Bertoni ( born January 10, 1903 in Masnago in Varese, Italy, † February 7, 1964 in Antony, near Paris ) was an Italian automobile designer, sculptor and architect. In particular, many works in the automotive industry are world known by him, such as the duck.

After receiving his diploma in 1918 at the Technical University in Varese Bertoni began when coachbuilder Carrozzeria Macchi, where the admirers of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo discovered his passion for the automobile. His extraordinary talent for drawing was on a French engineer delegation which took him to Paris in 1923. After his return in 1925 he became chief draftsman at Carrozzeria Macchi and founded his own art studio. After successfully Bertoni went their own ways, until he landed back in Paris because of a love story.

On April 27, 1932 Bertoni was hired by André Citroën. He is best known for the design of the Citroën Traction Avant (1934 ), Citroen 2CV (1936 ), the legendary Citroën DS (1955) and the Citroën Ami 6 ( 1961). Flaminio Bertoni described the unusual design of the Ami 6 later as his masterpiece.

1956 a system of him in St. Louis, Missouri has been applied (USA), to build 1,000 single-family homes within 100 days. At the request of UNESCO in the same year he exhibited three of his sculptures at the Olympic Games in Melbourne.

1957 got his DS 19 at the Triennale in Madrid the prize for the best industrial art. More prestigious awards for his sculptural art followed.

Flaminio Bertoni died on February 7, 1964 from a stroke.

The Citroën DS is considered - not least because of their designs, but also because of their technology and the combination of both - as one of the three cars of the 20th century, next to the Tin Lizzy by Henry Ford and the Mini by Alec Issigonis. It was only at number four ranked the VW Beetle by Erwin Komenda, followed by the Porsche 911 by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche.