Made In Italy: An Evocative Book On Some Of The Finest Designs To Come Out Of Italy

Images: Piotr Degler

Turin-based photographer Piotr Degler is one of the world’s leading automotive photographers today. With an extremely sharp eye that brings out the best of any automobile, Degler’s clean and perfectly framed images have been the toast of many automotive magazines and promotional material.

And now some of his finest work is available in a very high-quality book, which was one of the more important coffee table book releases of 2022.

Degler’s much acclaimed coffee-table book ‘Made in Italy’ is the culmination of more than a decade of work portraying extraordinary Italian concept cars and iconic limited-edition models. This is not just “another car book,” as he points out, but is a collection of 100 high-quality images with painstaking attention to detail.

More than 80 percent of the photographs have never been seen before, as they were shot exclusively for this book.

The blend of images creates what the author calls “a visual experience, to never be monotonous; the idea is to try awaken emotions at every turn of a page,” says Degler. “It is a mix between classic and modern cars, between concept and production cars, between studio and on location shots.”

“The goal was not to show the most important or significant models,” elaborates Degler, “not something that you can easily find on the internet, but to create visual pleasure through quality and exclusive photography.”

To put this book together, Degler worked with several Italian car museums, automotive companies, design centres and car collectors in Italy and across the globe.

‘Made in Italy’ is made that much more interesting by including an initial section that is dedicated to the ‘maestros’ of Italian design, with 11 automotive legends portrayed. This list includes Giampaolo Dallara, Leonardo Fioravanti, Marcello Gandini, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Flavio Manzoni, Paolo Martin, Horacio Pagani, Paolo Pininfarina, Ercole Spada, Alfredo Stola and Andrea Zagato.

Degler insists: “If you create something, it needs to be something never seen before.”

Apparently, the total cost of this colossal project exceeded €100,000 (Rs 85 lakhs), and since the first shot was taken, more than ten years passed. The text for ‘Made in Italy’ is in both English and Italian. Interestingly, the book is also printed in Italy, using the best of materials.

“I wanted to create something each car-, photography- or design-enthusiast could proudly display in his living room, sharing it with friends and enjoying it from time to time,” explains Degler. “Being a perfectionist, I prefer to self-publish my books so I can have total control of the project. It becomes a more personal and complete work. I can choose the best materials, have no restrictions with the number of images or pages and can offer the best quality product, without profits in mind, unlike most publishers. This book represents my biggest and most important project.”

‘Made in Italy’ is available on the official website: www.madeinitalybook.com