When we met Mazda Italia managing director Andrea Fiaschetti, he immediately told us with his typical enthusiastic attitude how he loved Design. «Mazda is doing an outstanding work, with Kevin Rice and his boss Ikuo Maeda we perfectly understand one each other, they’re fantastic!», he said referring respectively to the design director of Mazda Europe the world-wide Mazda Design Manager.
We reported that to Kevin Rice and, with great sympathy, he sent us his thoughts in memory of Andrea and his premature loss. We wish to share what he wrote to us:
«Andrea was a unique man, an inspiring man, a spirit that enthralled everyone who met him and a man that above all, had such a positive outlook on life. He was obviously an exceptional manager but he also loved and understood Design perfectly. These two qualities don’t often go together but it was a natural thing for Andrea and this made him an extra special talent. Working with him was a revelation, a real pleasure and something I looked forward to at all times. His contribution to Mazda has already been phenomenal but the visions he had for the company would have made a colossal impact on the company both in Italy and through the rest of Mazda.
He really WAS the Mazda spirit! My boss, Maeda-san, summed it up in an email to me when he heard of Andrea’s tragic passing: … Andrea IS Italy and Andrea IS Mazda for me and for us. There is no doubt that Andrea is absolutely irreplaceable! It is a truly tragic loss to the car industry, to Mazda, but above all, to his dear family».
