57 '30s

57 '30s
Design colour drawing by Luigi Fabio Rapi. Tempera on grey cardboard. Side view. Frame sizes:
19.68 x 12.20 in.
By profession Luigi Fabio Rapi is a design engineer, but almost on the sidelines of his daily duties, he carries out the creative activity of the designer with excellent results for Isotta Fraschini, Fiat, Zagato and Autobianchi. Luigi Fabio Rapi was born in 1902 in Florence and was educated to the good taste by the beauties of his city. Cars fascinate him with mechanics, as well as aesthetics, so he enrolls at the Milan Polytechnic after high school. In 1928 he graduated in engineering and in 1929 he worked at the railway department at OM. In 1935 he moved to Isotta Fraschini hoping to design cars, but now the Maison builds only trucks and engines. With just a few artistic touches he gives trucks and buses a pleasant and recognizable personality. Zagato builds a part of the cabins, thus the collaboration between Rapi and the body manufacturer.