Sid Ramnarace is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

designer and

strategist A strategist is a person with responsibility for the formulation and implementation of a strategy. Strategy generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. A strategy ...

who has worked with the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

, in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, and has designed automobiles, furniture, jewelry, textiles, glassware, and home decor.

Background

At the age of 12, he submitted letters to Chuck Jordan at

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

and

Jack Telnack Jack Telnack (born John J. Telnack in 1937) is the former global Vice President of Design of the Ford Motor Company from 1980 to 1997. He is best known for his work with cars like the 1979 Ford Mustang (third generation), the 1983 Ford Thunderbird ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

in the hope of receiving advice to landing a job as a designer. Based on the reply from those letters, Ramnarace studied at the

Cleveland Institute of Art The Cleveland Institute of Art, previously Cleveland School of Art, is a private college focused on art and design and located in Cleveland, Ohio. History The college was founded in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women, at firs ...

, where he graduated with a degree in industrial design, studying under the tutelage of design pioneer,

Viktor Schreckengost Viktor Schreckengost (June 26, 1906 – January 26, 2008) was an American industrial designer as well as a teacher, sculptor, and artist. His wide-ranging work included noted pottery designs, industrial design, bicycle design and seminal re ...

Career

After a brief stint at

as a contract designer, Ramnarace began at

working at Ford's Global Design Center and developed textiles, color and trim for the

Ford Explorer The Ford Explorer is a range of SUVs manufactured by Ford Motor Company since the 1991 model year. The first four-door SUV produced by Ford, the Explorer was introduced as a replacement for the two-door Bronco II. Within the current Ford light ...

Ford Prodigy The Ford Prodigy was a low emission vehicle 72 mpg-US (3.3 L/100 km; 86 mpg-imp) diesel-hybrid concept car built in 2000 by Ford and aimed at establishing U.S. leadership in the development of extremely fuel-efficient (up to ) vehicles while ...

and 24.7 show car concepts, where he worked under VP of Design

J Mays J Mays is an American industrial designer who served as Group Vice President of Global Design and Chief Creative Officer at Ford Motor Company, and is now Chief Design Officer at Whirlpool. His name is simply "J", named after his grandfather, S ...

and Chief Designer

Laurens van den Acker Laurens van den Acker (born 5 September 1965, Deurne, North Brabant) is a Dutch automobile designer. Biography Van den Acker studied at the Delft University of Technology, where he obtained a Master of Engineering at the Faculty of Industri ...

. He has contributed to automobile interiors and exteriors including the

Ford Edge The Ford Edge is a range of crossover SUVs manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Introduced for the 2007 model year, the Edge is the first mid-size CUV marketed by Ford in North America; the model line is currently in its second generation. ...

and

Lincoln MKX The Lincoln MKX is a mid-size luxury crossover SUV marketed and sold by the Lincoln brand of Ford Motor Company. As Lincoln is phasing out its use of "MK" model names, the MKX adopted the Lincoln Nautilus nameplate as part of a mid-cycle update ...

Ford Flex The Ford Flex is a full-size crossover SUV or wagon that was manufactured by the Ford Motor Company; a single generation was produced from the 2009 to 2019 model years. Introduced as the successor to the Ford Taurus X, the model line also fu ...

Ford Thunderbird The Ford Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 until 1997 and 2002 until 2005 across 11 distinct generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was pr ...

and most notably, the 5th generation

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

which was cited as one of the most iconic cars of the last 20 years. Sid has also spent time teaching at his alma mater as well as appearing as a guest speaker at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Ross School of Business The Stephen M. Ross School of Business, also known as Michigan Ross, is the business school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1924, the school is ranked among the best business schools i ...

at the MBA in Marketing program.

Criticism

The clean design of the 24.7 featured simple geometric shapes and machined surfaces which were designed to communicate a technical look and feel, complimenting the prescient advanced communication and telematic technologies that made up the essence of 24.7. However, the design of the 24.7 was criticized in the press - The Car Connection was quoted saying, "It's wrapped around the Internet because the Internet is trendy, and in the design-led world Ford is entering under

guidance, trendy is everything."

Selected projects

File:Ford T-Bird -- red convertible.jpg, Ford Thunderbird (11th Generation) File:Ford Mustang GT coupe -- 07-30-2009.jpg, Ford Mustang (5th Generation) File:2009 Ford Edge Sport NY.jpg, Ford Edge File:Lincoln MKX -- 11-10-2011.jpg, Lincoln MKX File:Ford Explorer XLT.jpg, Ford Explorer (3rd Generation) File:Prodigy sm.jpg, Ford Prodigy Concept

References

External links

Core 77 Interview with Sid Ramnarace
Q+A with Sid Ramnarace at the International Home and Housewares Show
Car and Driver
Car and Driver feature on Ramnarace designs {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramnarace, Sid Canadian furniture designers Living people American automobile designers Ford designers People in the automobile industry 1973 births Canadian jewellery designers