Umberto Palermo

Umberto Palermo is an Italian designer who has been active in the automotive, appliances, and communication sectors since 1996. He is the founder of the brands Umberto Palermo Design, Mole Costruzione Artigianale, and Mole Urbana. Throughout his career, Palermo has collaborated with several prestigious automotive manufacturers, including Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati, Iveco, Piaggio, Faw, and I.DE.A Institute. He has notably designed four truck cabins for Dongfeng, all of which are now in production.

Under the Mole Costruzione Artigianale brand, Palermo has produced several notable concepts, including the Vittoria, Luce, One Off 001, One Off Alfa Romeo 4C Mole, One Off Fiat 124 Mole, One Off Tesla Model S Valentino, and the Almas concept. He has also worked on various customizations of Piaggio Ape vehicles, such as special editions for Nutella, the Vatican, and the Piaggio Museum.

In the field of home appliances, Palermo has been working with ARISTON Group for over 15 years, designing a wide range of products. His collaborations with ARISTON have earned him eight Good Design awards. One of his notable creations for ARISTON is the Igea Car, a handwashing concept. For the Homa brand, Palermo has designed a range of refrigerators, introducing automotive platform concepts into the designs.

Palermo’s creativity extends into other industries as well. For Hotpoint Illy, he was nominated for the prestigious Compasso d’Oro award for his coffee machine design. He also designed a collection of racing suits for Sabelt, demonstrating his versatility across various fields of design.

Through his Mole Urbana brand, Palermo is currently working on a range of quadricycles aimed at addressing the challenges of ecological transition. In the professional vehicle sector, he also specializes in customizing Piaggio vans to meet various business needs.