Walter Maria de Silva (1951) is an Italian car designer and former head of Volkswagen Group Design, until 2015. Since beginning his car design career in 1972 as head of design for Fiat, 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'. He is presently CEO of "Walter de Silva Shoes".
Fiat 1972-1977
Walter de Silva began his career in 1972 at age 21, working for Centro Stile Fiat.
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.
Alfa Romeo 1986-1999
In 1986 Walter de Silva was recruited away from the I.DE.A. Institute to become head of Alfa Romeo's Centro Stile. Walter de Silva remained in this role until 1999.
At Alfa Romeo, de Silva led the renewal of the brand's design language and repositioning.
SEAT 1999-2002
In 1999 Ferdinand Piëch assigned Walter de Silva to work for the Volkswagen Group SEAT division, with the aim of injecting verve and sportiness to SEAT design. The result was SEAT 'auto emoción' philosophy which was first demonstrated in the 2000 SEAT Salsa and the 2001 SEAT Tango concept cars, as a foretaste of SEAT new design language, with the latter receiving in 2002 the 'Autonis Award' in the Concept Car category. His more expressive design approach has since influenced the form and look of numerous cars, such as the 2002 SEAT Córdoba and SEAT Ibiza, as well as the 2004 SEAT Altea and 2005 SEAT León which were highly acclaimed and subsequently received several design awards (e.g. Red dot design award, Autonis award, 'The World's Most Beautiful Automobile 2004' award in Milan etc.).
Audi brand group 2002-2007
In March 2002 Walter de Silva was appointed Head of Design to the now-defunct Audi brand group which encompassed the Audi, SEAT and Lamborghini brands. Volkswagen Group management charged de Silva with giving the Audi range a more emotional design language which included the controversial introduction of the full-height, single-frame front grille that now adorns all Audi models. His first full design for a production Audi was the 2005 A6. He has since gone on to contribute to the 2005 Audi Q7, 2006 Audi TT and the 2007 Audi A5, which is reportedly his favourite design.
Volkswagen Group 2007-2015
Following the appointment of former Audi chairman Martin Winterkorn as the chairman of the Volkswagen Group in January 2007, de Silva was appointed as Head of Volkswagen Group Design effective from 1 February 2007 and was responsible for the overall strategic design direction of all VW passenger car brands including Škoda, SEAT, Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti. de Silva replaced Murat Günak and his first task was to re-evaluate the designs of three then-imminent Volkswagen models which had been penned by his predecessor: the 2008 Golf, the 2008 Passat CC and the 2008 Scirocco.
Designs
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo 146 (1995)
Alfa Romeo 156 (1997)
Alfa Romeo 166 (1998)
Alfa Romeo 147 (2000)
SEAT
SEAT Salsa & Salsa Emoción (2000)
SEAT Tango roadster/spyder/coupé/Racer (2001)
SEAT Ibiza (2002)
SEAT Córdoba (2002)
SEAT Altea Prototipo (2003)
SEAT Altea (2004)
SEAT Toledo (2004)
SEAT León (2005)
The Audi
Audi A6 (2004)
Audi Q7 (2005)
Audi R8 (2006)
Audi TT (2006)
Audi A5 (2007)
Audi A3 (Typ 8P/8PA) (2003)
Lamborghini
Lamborghini Miura concept (2006)
Lamborghini Egoista (2013)
Volkswagen
Volkswagen CC (2008)
Volkswagen Golf (2008)
Volkswagen Scirocco (2008)
Volkswagen Polo (2009)
Volkswagen Amarok (2010)
Volkswagen Jetta (2010)
Volkswagen Passat (2010)
Volkswagen Sharan (2010)
Volkswagen Touareg (2010)
Volkswagen Beetle (2011)
Volkswagen up! (2011)
Volkswagen Touran (2015)
© 2019. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Walter de Silva or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
Fiat 1972-1977
Walter de Silva began his career in 1972 at age 21, working for Centro Stile Fiat.
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.
Alfa Romeo 1986-1999
In 1986 Walter de Silva was recruited away from the I.DE.A. Institute to become head of Alfa Romeo's Centro Stile. Walter de Silva remained in this role until 1999.
At Alfa Romeo, de Silva led the renewal of the brand's design language and repositioning.
SEAT 1999-2002
In 1999 Ferdinand Piëch assigned Walter de Silva to work for the Volkswagen Group SEAT division, with the aim of injecting verve and sportiness to SEAT design. The result was SEAT 'auto emoción' philosophy which was first demonstrated in the 2000 SEAT Salsa and the 2001 SEAT Tango concept cars, as a foretaste of SEAT new design language, with the latter receiving in 2002 the 'Autonis Award' in the Concept Car category. His more expressive design approach has since influenced the form and look of numerous cars, such as the 2002 SEAT Córdoba and SEAT Ibiza, as well as the 2004 SEAT Altea and 2005 SEAT León which were highly acclaimed and subsequently received several design awards (e.g. Red dot design award, Autonis award, 'The World's Most Beautiful Automobile 2004' award in Milan etc.).
Audi brand group 2002-2007
In March 2002 Walter de Silva was appointed Head of Design to the now-defunct Audi brand group which encompassed the Audi, SEAT and Lamborghini brands. Volkswagen Group management charged de Silva with giving the Audi range a more emotional design language which included the controversial introduction of the full-height, single-frame front grille that now adorns all Audi models. His first full design for a production Audi was the 2005 A6. He has since gone on to contribute to the 2005 Audi Q7, 2006 Audi TT and the 2007 Audi A5, which is reportedly his favourite design.
Volkswagen Group 2007-2015
Following the appointment of former Audi chairman Martin Winterkorn as the chairman of the Volkswagen Group in January 2007, de Silva was appointed as Head of Volkswagen Group Design effective from 1 February 2007 and was responsible for the overall strategic design direction of all VW passenger car brands including Škoda, SEAT, Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti. de Silva replaced Murat Günak and his first task was to re-evaluate the designs of three then-imminent Volkswagen models which had been penned by his predecessor: the 2008 Golf, the 2008 Passat CC and the 2008 Scirocco.
Designs
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo 146 (1995)
Alfa Romeo 156 (1997)
Alfa Romeo 166 (1998)
Alfa Romeo 147 (2000)
SEAT
SEAT Salsa & Salsa Emoción (2000)
SEAT Tango roadster/spyder/coupé/Racer (2001)
SEAT Ibiza (2002)
SEAT Córdoba (2002)
SEAT Altea Prototipo (2003)
SEAT Altea (2004)
SEAT Toledo (2004)
SEAT León (2005)
The Audi
Audi A6 (2004)
Audi Q7 (2005)
Audi R8 (2006)
Audi TT (2006)
Audi A5 (2007)
Audi A3 (Typ 8P/8PA) (2003)
Lamborghini
Lamborghini Miura concept (2006)
Lamborghini Egoista (2013)
Volkswagen
Volkswagen CC (2008)
Volkswagen Golf (2008)
Volkswagen Scirocco (2008)
Volkswagen Polo (2009)
Volkswagen Amarok (2010)
Volkswagen Jetta (2010)
Volkswagen Passat (2010)
Volkswagen Sharan (2010)
Volkswagen Touareg (2010)
Volkswagen Beetle (2011)
Volkswagen up! (2011)
Volkswagen Touran (2015)
© 2019. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Walter de Silva or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Walter de Silva |
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| Sketch Alfa Romeo 156 |
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| Sketches Bugatti concept car, 1999 |
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| Sketches |
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| 1996, Alfa Romeo Nuvola Concept |
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| Alfa Romeo 156 Selespeed |
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| Alfa Romeo 156, 1999 |
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| Audi R8 |
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| 2015 Audi R8 Competition |
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| Audi R8 |
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| Bugatti revue |
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| 2006, Lamborghini Miura concept |
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| Lamborghini Egoista, back view |
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| VW Scirocco III, 2009 |
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| Volkswagen space up |
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| Volkswagen Up |
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"Bleu lumière" collection |
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| "Bleu lumière" collection |
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| "Bleu lumière" collection |
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| "Bleu lumière" collection |
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| "Bleu lumière" collection |
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| "Form in Motion" collection |
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| "Form in Motion" collection |
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| "Form in Motion" collection |
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| "Form in Motion" collection |
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| "Noir extrème" collection |
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| "Noir extrème" collection |
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| "Noir extrème" collection |
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| "Noir extrème" collection |
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| "Noir extrème" collection |
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| "Orange" collection |
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| "Orange" collection |
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| "Orange" collection |
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| "Orange" collection |
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| "Orange" collection |
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| "Orange" collection |
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| "Orange" collection |
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| "Orange" collection |
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| His shoe sketchbook |
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