The supercar sculptor

Sardinian-born Flavio Manzoni spent his childhood wishing he’d designed the Sydney Opera House. Today, his creations house an even more stirring musical performance.

By Michael Stahl 31/10/2016

How is one supposed to carry the weight of one of the world’s most powerful brands, the responsibility for a technological leader and a national institution? If you’re Flavio Manzoni, senior vice-president of design at Ferrari, you carry it on slender shoulders, with graciousness and an engaging, boyish enthusiasm.

On this particular day, Manzoni’s wide-eyed wonderment had a lot to do with his being in Australia for the first time. He visited in late May as a special guest speaker for Sydney’s Vivid festival. He also presented his latest creation, the four-seat, four-wheel-drive GTC4Lusso V12, and sat down for a one-on-one interview with Robb Report Australia.

He modestly deflects credit for the Lusso’s design – and that of every current Ferrari model, including the stratospheric LaFerrari supercar – onto his 75-strong team at the Ferrari Centro Stile. And Manzoni cites that very team as his proudest creation: prior to his arrival in January 2010, Ferrari was the only major automotive brand still lacking in-house design.

Manzoni is slim, bespectacled, stylish in a slightly nerdy way. He keeps fit by cycling, is an avid and accomplished pianist and is encyclopaedic in his knowledge of classical music. With an embarrassed laugh, he refers to the 708kW, 350km/h-plus LaFerrari supercar as a “beast”; the 574kW, 340km/h F12 Tour de France as a “monster”.

Manzoni was born in 1965 in Sardinia – the island’s culture, he says, is in his soul – as the son of an architect. Cars weren’t a particular focus, but capturing thoughts and images came naturally. “When I was a child, it was normal for me to visualise an object and the morning after, sketch it, just to freeze it, materialise it,” he says.

He says he dreamed of Australia even then. More specifically, of the Sydney Opera House. “When I was a child and I was dreaming to become an architect, this was among the five best [buildings] that I really loved,” he sighs. “I was very impressed that in 1957 a very young architect, Jørn Utzon, was imagining the future like this. If you look at [the Opera House] now, you think this has been designed now, thinking towards the future. And however many years later, this is really impressive.

“It makes us think how we are forgetting this approach. It is absolutely important to think in a very audacious way, let’s say a bold way, symbolic way. There is everything on this building; it is a masterpiece of symbolism. And I noticed yesterday, visiting the building, there are four dimensions – there is time as well.”

At 18, Manzoni left Sardinia to study architecture and industrial design at the University of Florence. On graduating, he decided to pursue a career in automotive design. He joined Fiat in 1993, spending six years in the design centre with the upscale Lancia brand, half that time as senior interior designer, before detouring to the Volkswagen-owned SEAT where he again specialised in interior design. He returned to Lancia in 2001 as overall Director of Design for the ailing brand.

Moving to parent Fiat in 2004, Manzoni oversaw the design of mainstream models like the retro-themed 500. A move to Volkswagen in 2006, where he was soon heading the group’s creative design, involved him in everything from the space-maximising Up! series of concepts, to the mainstream Golf VI, to designing the identities for Bentley and Bugatti.

Then, in 2009, Maranello came a-calling. Manzoni’s appointment was confirmed in January 2010. Ferrari had never fully taken the plunge before. As Manzoni sits down with Robb Report Australia in Sydney, he explains it had been that way from the beginning, when founder Enzo Ferrari agreed (with supposed reluctance) to produce and sell gran turismo road models in order to fund his racing scuderia.

“Enzo Ferrari used outside coachbuilders,” Manzoni says. “He didn’t care about production. He had to sell the cars to sustain the racers. There was a famous encounter between him and Pininfarina, and he committed to create the GT cars.”

From 1947 to 2010, all but a handful of Ferrari’s most iconic models were clothed by the independent Turin design house of Pininfarina.
Ferrari had put a toe in the water in late 2002 when, with fellow Modenese marque Maserati then in its stable, it appointed former BMW and MINI (now McLaren) designer Frank Stephenson as Director of Concept Design and Development.

Stephenson’s role was not to actually design cars, but to assist independent designers (like Pininfarina luminary Lorenzo Ramaciotti) in maintaining each brand’s identity. He was replaced in 2005 by Donato Coco, under whose watch were developed the Ferrari F430, California and the gorgeous 458 Italia. Coco moved on to British marque Lotus, as Ferrari successfully wooed Manzoni.

“I started in 2010 with the commitment of starting from scratch an entire studio,” Manzoni says. “We were four [people] at the beginning, now we are more than 75 …”

After completing revisions to the Pininfarina-penned FF – the “shooting brake” profile, re-employed in the GTC4Lusso – Manzoni and his young team had the ultimate challenge of Ferrari’s next supercar flagship, the LaFerrari. Acceptance of their efforts wasn’t a given. At the end of 2010, his small in-house team anxiously presented six full-scale clay models to Ferrari management … who gave the nod to move forward with two of them.

“It was the first big success for us – a demonstration that a talented team, working in-house, can produce a very high result,” Manzoni reflects. “The final part of the job was a very long process of optimisation. We remodelled, we redesigned every millimetre of this shape in order to reach the best compromise in terms of performance and beauty.”

Manzoni’s presentation at Vivid Sydney kept an audience of 200 enthralled in the Museum of Contemporary Art, recounting the design process of the LaFerrari. A very early step, he explained, was to take the naked carbon-fibre chassis as presented by the engineers and visualise (via 3D-modelling) the flow of air over it to create a “ghost body”.

“This car is made from carbon fibre and air,” Manzoni told the audience. “There are two forces which condition the configuration of a car like this. One is the air, and that tends to excavate the body. The other one is the amount of components that you have to put inside. Two opposite forces.”

Another force, strong in Manzoni, is authenticity. Fake grilles and wings, he says, aren’t design; merely styling. “Ferrari, we never make something only because we like it. It is not possible. There is always a rational process of selection that is based on also a rational criteria. If you have a beautiful idea but it doesn’t fit the purpose or the content of the product, it stops.”

Ferrari, though, has probably a richer seam of emotive visual cues than any other automotive brand. A tail-lamp shape, a ducktail spoiler, a pair of outlets angled just-so, that instantly denote the prancing horse. But Manzoni feels that regurgitating the past is cowardly, unless it’s done in an authentically innovative way.

“How can we combine a visionary approach with the respect for the tradition?” Manzoni rhetorically asked the Vivid audience. “There is a relationship between man and machine … It refers to symbols that have a strong impact on our imagination. The look of the object is very often provocative, there is a seductive encounter with the user, which is strongly emotional.”

At the nose of the LaFerrari, the front splitter appears to be suspended from a central, vertical element. It’s a fitting, functional solution – which happened to subtly recall the 1961 Ferrari 156 “shark-nose” Formula 1 car.

Similarly, the need to relieve pressure from the rear wheel-arches of the latest F12 Tour de France GT car found a neat solution in three, slanted air outlets. While in complete functional and aesthetic harmony with the F12’s innovative, excavated channels, they’re suggestive of the 1962 250 GTO.“It is a kind of conceptual approach that connects our products to the past, but not in a nostalgic way – in a very futuristic way,” explains Manzoni. “And if you look back, there are so many Ferraris that are so different from their predecessors. This means that the designers at the time were not so much influenced by the history. They just wanted to reinvent the future of Ferrari.”

More than he is proud of any of his designs, Manzoni says he is proud of a team that works “so fast – like in Formula 1”. The design time for a new Ferrari model, he says, is a staggering 14 months from first sketch to design freeze, after which it is handed over for the rather longer process of production engineering.

That design timeframe includes modelling in clay, which Manzoni insists is essential. “The modellers – who are real artists, sculptors – work on the right tension and the sexy effect of the surfaces that sometimes doesn’t come with virtual modelling. The human touch is very important to give a certain sensitivity, sensibility to the form.”

Fourteen months? Manzoni breaks into a smile. “LaFerrari took a longer time. But fortunately we are Italian, so we know very well the art of improvisation! We plan for 14 months, but sometimes that is not sufficient if you want to achieve the result of excellence.”

All of which largely explains the need for the Ferrari Centro Stile itself. “Nowadays the Ferraris are so complex, it’s not possible any more to find the technical configuration and then give it to somebody else to make a suit on top,” Manzoni says. “It’s an integrated design. We still cooperate with Pininfarina, especially for the one-off projects. It means they make their interpretation based on a production car. Historically, this is the tradition of a coachbuilder.”

Car designers are unfailingly among the most fascinating people one meets. Automotive design embodies almost every kind of design – architectural, furnishing, appliances, electronics – and does so within an endlessly demanding framework of vibration, heat, exposure to the environment and differing legislative requirements. Added to that is the range of cultural tastes to be satisfied by a product that will appear, at best, two years after the design has been signed off. Automotive designers never cease observing and absorbing cultures, colours, contours, textures, even sounds. Manzoni often mentions the “short-circuits” that occur between often unrelated fields like architecture, art, music – from which something new can be invented. How was Australia seeping into Manzoni’s consciousness?

“I can speak only about what I’ve seen so far,” he smiles. “Sometimes I have the feeling of an American city, because of the very modern buildings. But there is a very special, local and authentic character of the environment. I love this combination of natural beauty of the land.”

He had toured Sydney’s eastern suburbs, loading his iPhone – a cracked and weather-beaten example – with images of clifftop houses and curious, wind and water-hewn sandstone formations.

“It’s unbelievable, the cliffs are fantastic, and the integration between architecture and nature. There is a kind of connection there. I saw many beautiful villas on the cliffs … This landscape looks like an oil painting. And this villa, designed with a circular front and windows looking north-east and south-east. I think they can see the curvature of the earth from this.”

He shows us a series of photographs of rocks in Sydney’s Parsley Bay. Sandstone, layered and sculpted by the wind, pockmarked with bubbles like an Aero chocolate. “This reminds me of Antelope Canyon in Utah, a canyon created by the wind. It is beautiful, incredible what nature can do. And here – a tree that was born in the stone …”

The sandstone formations might as easily have reminded him of Katsushika Hokusai’s famous woodblock The Great Wave off Kanagawa, a print of which is prominent in the Ferrari Centro Stile in Maranello.

How do these lumps of rock help inspire the design of some of the world’s most advanced supercars? “I don’t know,” Manzoni shrugs. “I think I’m a very curious person, so I think it’s very important to nourish your creativity, your soul with different experiences. I’m sure they will naturally work in the background, influencing your choices, your ideas, your vision. This is a creation of nature, but it is like a sculpture.”

Creation, as he explains, doesn’t always happen when one is creating. “Normally, when I have to solve a problem, we sit in front of the model or we sit around the table, we make brainstormings with the team. But so many times, it happens in the moment where you have a pause. Spontaneously there is a kind of illumination – some intuition, some idea that comes naturally.”

He agrees that this intuition comes more naturally to Italians. “Italian design is better!” he laughs. “I think there is a higher emotional value that comes from the passion and enthusiasm that we have. I think we are naturally inclined to put a certain artistic quality on our best products. But not everything, uh? I have to be honest!”

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Tom Brady Wears a Jacob & Co. Watch Decked in Yellow Sapphires to the Super Bowl

The $740,000 Caviar Tourbillon was an opulent choice for the former NFL star.

By 17/02/2025

Tom Brady was on the field tonight at the 59th annual Super Bowl game, and while the retired NFL hero—a seven-time Super Bowl winner (the most of any footballer in history)—wasn’t playing, he came dressed to impress with a $116,400 Jacob & Co. watch on his wrist.

Brady, who is a notable watch collector, recently sold off several of his timepieces at a Sotheby’s auction called “The GOAT Collection: Watches and Treasures from Tom Brady” this past December. Those timepieces ran the gamut from a Rolex Daytona Ref. 6241 to a unique Audemars Piguet Royal Oak with his name spelled out in diamonds across the salmon-colored tapisserie dial. His Rolex Daytona sold for over $1.5 million, and, in total, his auction raked in around $7 million. So, he’s well-equipped for a new watch purchase.

Whether or not he owns the six-figure sapphire stunner or it was a paid spot, the watch certainly stood out against his conservative but immaculately fit gray suit. “Tom Brady is the epitome of excellence, both on and off the field,” said Benjamin Arabov, CEO of Jacob & Co, in a press release sent out by the company shortly after Brady’s appearance. “We’re thrilled to see him wearing two of our most prestigious timepieces on the biggest stage in sports. The Billionaire Mini Ashoka and Caviar Tourbillon embody the precision, luxury, and innovation that define Jacob & Co. We’re honored to have him represent the artistry and craftsmanship behind every piece we create.”

Like much of Brady’s wrist candy, his 44 by 15.8 mm Caviar Tourbillon is not easy to come by. It is limited to just 18 pieces. It features hours, minutes, and a one-minute flying tourbillon in the JCAA43 movement with 216 components and 72 hours of power reserve. The movement itself is set with 338 brilliant-cut diamonds, while a total of 337 yellow sapphires adorn the case and dial. The clasp is decorated with another 18 baguette-cut yellow sapphires, and the crown comes with 14 baguette-cut yellow sapphires and one rose-cut yellow sapphire. As far as gem setting goes, this is one extraordinary piece, but it certainly seemed like a surprising choice for Brady, who was otherwise dressed like he just stepped out of a boardroom or a Ralph Lauren catalog.

Benjamin Arabov, son of Jacob & Co. founder Jacob Arabov, is now the CEO of the company. The 32-year-old recently took to Instagram to post that he was looking for a rebranding agency with experience in visual identity and packaging. As far as marketing goes, however, with Tom Brady, he’s golden.

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This Vintage Rolex Day-Date Has an Ultra-Rare and Coveted ‘Bark’ Design

The ultra-cool piece from Wind Vintage also comes in pristine condition with a desirable patina.

By Paige Reddinger 17/02/2025

Over the last four years there has been a resurgence in interest for 18-karat yellow gold watches. Much of that is due to fatigue over the long-running craze for steel tool watches, but it is also in part due to the rising value of gold (which shows no sign of slowing), rendering these once undesirable pieces increasingly worth collecting. Add to that the fact that, in some niche and stylish circles, unusual bracelet treatments, gem-setting, and interesting dials are becoming increasingly appealing and you have a new wave of watch collecting emerging. Steel sports watches are still the bread and butter for most dealers, but as pockets of interest in more unusual timekeepers, often from younger and fashion-forward collectors, continue to rise we’re seeing some really fun pieces pop up on the market. Case in point: This 1980s Rolex Day-Date in 18-karat yellow gold with a sapphire and diamond dial from Wind Vintage currently available exclusively on The Vault.

It wasn’t that long ago that dealers had a hard time unloading an all-gold gem-set piece. Eric Wind, the notable dealer and founder of Wind Vintage, says five years ago he would have sold this piece for around $23,000 to $28,000. The asking price today? $45,000. “It is very rare,” he tells Robb Report. “I think that was all clearly hand-done. Funnily enough, bark watches were not very desirable in the past. You know, even five to 10 years ago, they were very, very hard to sell. But, over the last three to five years, there’s been such an emergence and interest in jewellery and watches and work like that engraving and other kind of artistic forms that the watches took.” The style of engraving he is referring to on this watch can be seen on the bezel and middle links of the bracelet that is referred to as “bark” for its rough tree-like appearance.

“Bark” engraving on the bezel and bracelet of the Wind Vintage 1980s Rolex Day-Date
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

And while the bracelet is certainly a notable feature that will stand out in a sea of Submariners and Daytonas, the dial is also worth bragging about. Its diamond minutes track and sapphire hour markers are executed in what is known as a “string dial” because it looks like a string of pearls. “They’ve become very popular,” says Wind. “They were very expensive back in the 80s, just because of the cost of the stones, and there are just not many that exist on the planet.” Likewise, Wind says the canary yellow matte dial is not something he comes across often, having only seen a couple of others.

An up-close look at the patina and “bark” engraving on this 1980s Day-Date from Wind Vintage.
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

Part of what makes this watch so hard to find on the market is that pieces like this often didn’t survive past their ’80s heyday. “A lot of times these watches were so undesirable that dealers would replace the bezel inserts and put on fluted inserts, or smooth bezels or fluted bezels and melt down the bracelets or polish the center link so they looked like a standard Day-Date. Those dealers should have learned that what goes around, always comes around. Now with these interesting Rolex watches on the rise, they’ll become even harder to find.

A Wind Vintage 1980s Day-Date with “bark” engraving and a gem-set “string dial”
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

If you’re interested in the piece and want to speak to Wind about it IRL, he will be at Robb Report’s House of Robb event in San Francsico today during the NBA All-Star weekend.

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Soccer Star Kylian Mbappé Is Now an Investor in Watch Marketplace Wristcheck

Just like Jay-Z.
Published on February 7, 2025

By Abby Montanez 11/02/2025

Kylian Mbappé just went from brand ambassador to investor.

The celebrated French footballer, who currently plays for Real Madrid, has taken a stake in luxury watch trading platform Wristcheck, Hypebeast reported lat week.

Off the filed, the 26-year-old soccer star is a known timepiece collector and has served as an ambassador for Swiss marque Hublot since 2018. With this new partnership, the forward joins a growing group of influential backers, including Jay-Z. The rapper and business mogul took an equity stake in the Hong Kong-based company last summer as part of a recent funding round of $7.9 million.

“I’m thrilled to join Wristcheck as an investor through Coalition Capital,” Mbappé said in a press statement. “As a Hublot ambassador and someone passionate about watches and innovation, I see Wristcheck as a platform that truly understands the next generation of collectors. They’re reshaping the watch industry with a forward-thinking approach that blends technology, transparency, and creativity.” Mbappé did not immediately respond to Robb Report‘s request for comment on his new business endeavor.

Kylian Mbappé is an investor in online watch shop Wristcheck.
Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Launched in 2020 by renowned horophile and Instagram personality Austen Chu, Wristcheck offers a platform for collectors to buy and sell pre-owned watches that have been authenticated by Swiss-trained watchmakers. Since it was founded, the company has raised more than $21.6 million in funding from investors including the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Gobi Partners GBA, and K3 Ventures.

Mbappé, meanwhile, has achieved remarkable success in his soccer career. He won the 2018 FIFA World Cup with France, becoming the youngest player to score in a final since Pelé. At PSG, he has secured multiple Ligue 1 titles and domestic cups. Individually, Mbappé has earned the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award and regularly features in top European scoring charts. And in 2020, he was ranked the world’s highest-paid player, surpassing rivals Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

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Sotheby’s Will Put on the Largest Auction of Breguet Watches in Decades This Fall

To celebrate the revered watchmaking house’s 250th anniversary, the sale includes rare collectibles belonging to living Breguet family members.

By Paige Reddinger 11/02/2025

Interest in Breguet has experienced a quiet resurgence among savvy collectors who appreciate the brand’s deep-rooted watchmaking heritage. This growing enthusiasm will soon take center stage with an upcoming auction that shines a significant spotlight on the storied Maison.

Founded in Paris 250 years ago, Abraham-Louis Breguet was one of the most influential watchmakers in history, best known for inventing the tourbillon and the automatic winding system—along with many other groundbreaking innovations. His legacy continues to inspire modern masters such as F.P. Journe and Philippe Dufour. You can see Breguet’s influence pointedly in pieces like F.P. Journe’s famous Chronomètre à Résonance timepiece, voted one of Robb Report‘s 50 Greatest Watches of All Time.

Now, Sotheby’s has announced “the largest sale of Breguet timepieces in three decades.” Though the auction won’t take place until November, the auction house is already working to build anticipation. In the meantime, it might be wise to brush up on the most coveted Breguet references.

Breguet 1827 Perpétuelle à Tact watch made for King George IV Breguet

What may pique collectors’ interest is the sale is being curated in conjunction with Breguet and Emmanuel Breguet, the vice president and head of patrimony, who happens to be a descendant of the original Monsieur Breguet. So far, the only timekeeper publicly associated (at least visually) with the auction is the 1827 Perpétuelle à Tact watch made for King George IV. Still, it hints at the historic level of pocket watches, wristwatches, and clocks that will be on offer. Abraham-Louis Breguet was a frequent supplier of high-end and state-of-the-art timepieces for royalty, including Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte, and King George III.

Other highlights include an open-faced montre à tact (a watch that replicates the internal hour hand on the cover of the pocket watch via an arrow so that time could be read via touch) with a calendar and moonphase indications that was the inspiration for the Ref. 3330. A pendulette with alarm, perpetual calendar and repeater, and a two-color gold open-faced tourbillon watch is said to be a part of the sale, although no images were provided as of press time. More info on what will be in the sale will come this spring.

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Capella Brands Their Own Caviar to Mark Chinese New Year

Capella Sydney continues its commitment to exceptional luxury experiences, with a high tea and caviar upgrade all part of its 2025 Lunar New Year celebrations to usher in the Year of the Snake.

By Belinda Aucott-christie 07/02/2025

These days caviar bumps are on the menu at all the best seaside restaurants, and now guests checking into a suite at Capella Sydney will be saved the trip to the beach with a tin of caviar conveniently stationed in their mini bar.

Downstairs at the chic lobby café Aperture, caviar is also part of their elegantly indulgent high tea. Expertly crafted by Head Pastry Chef Arthur Carré. This bespoke menu features a delectable selection of delicacies, including Capella Kaluga Caviar, sesame prawn toast, Peking duck pancake roll cornetto, fried pork dumplings, and pandan and mandarin lamingtons. The experience is complemented by the delicate notes of white rabbit jasmine tea from Zensation Tea House, with an optional upgrade to a glass of Louis Roederer Champagne for a truly indulgent experience.

It’s all part of a chic lunar collaboration with Kaluga Caviar (from central China) which supplies 21 of the 26 three Michelin starred restaurants in Paris. Kaluga caviar offers a balance of luxury, flavour, and sustainability. Its rich, creamy texture and large pearls make it a close alternative to Beluga caviar with a lovely walnut aftertaste.

Even if you are a guest just for the day at Capella Sydney you can indulge your palate with a high tea that pairs Oscietra black caviar, from Russian Sturgeon stock, with champagne and traditional accompaniments.

Ask for the Capella Lunar New Year Afternoon Tea when you make you reservation, and take your place at the table. Each set comes with a 10g tin of Capella Sydney x Kaluga Queen Caviar.

Capella Sydney

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