Tazio Nuvolari

Vroom! Designer Housewares Inspired by the Automobile's Golden Age

Filed under: Decor

Given all the depressing news out of Detroit these days, it might seem an odd time to promote a collection of housewares that evokes the golden age of the automobile. But Sid Ramnarace, a former designer for the Ford Motor Co., has created a stylish line of shiny metallic bowls and coasters that deserves more than a passing look. Each piece is hand-crafted out of recycled aluminum.

Ramnarace, whose own name sounds like it was made for the race-car industry, has named each of his pieces after a famous driver. The Mika Bowl ($160), honoring Finnish Formula One champ Mika Hakkinen, consists of a series of curved spokes that resemble wheel rims on a hot rod. The similarly shaped Moss Bowl ($150), after English legend Stirling Moss, has wider spokes that connote motion and cresting waves. A more minimalist design, which can perhaps best be described as looking like a plastic spike on a golf shoe, defines the Emerson Bowl ($300), an homage to Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi. And, finally, there are the hubcap-like Tazio Coasters ($65), named for Tazio Nuvolari, the Italian Grand Prix star of the 1920s and '30s.

Ramnarace spent 10 years with Ford, helping design, among other cars, the fifth generation Mustang. He earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he studied under the celebrated industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost, who died last year at the age of 101. To view the Ramnarace Metalcraft Collection or to purchase a piece, visit www.ramnarace.com.

Gallery: Ramnarace Metalcraft Collection