(April 6, 2012) Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, who designed the first 911 sports car and went on to found a consumer products design firm that also carried the Porsche name, died Thursday in Salzburg, Austria. He was 76.

Porsche started work in the design department of the Porsche auto business in 1958. Porsche's artistic talent was demonstrated in the early 60s when he modeled the first plasticine model of a successor to the 356 series. In 1962 he became head of the Porsche Design Studio and a year later made a worldwide sensation with the Porsche 901 (or 911). It was first shown at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show.

The timeless and classic design continues to live on the seventh generation 911 model today. Porsche also designed other iconic models — among his most famous designs include the Formula 1 race car type 804 and the Porsche 904 Carrera GTS, which today is considered one of the most beautiful racing cars ever.

When Porsche KG was made into a limited company in 1971/72, Porsche, along with all other family members retired from the business operations of the company. In 1972 he founded the "Porsche Design Studio" in Stuttgart, the headquarters relocated in 1974 to Zell am See in Austria.

In the following decades, he designed a number of classic men's accessories such as watches, eyewear and writing instruments under the brand name "Porsche Design" gaining worldwide notoriety. In parallel, he designed with his team under the brand "Design by FA Porsche" a variety of industrial products, household appliances and consumer goods for internationally known clients.

Ferdinand Porsche with
the iconic Porsche 911

Porsche enjoyed a reputation as a designer, to be a functionalist. A strong and clear line is typical of all product designs that have emerged from his design studio. "Design must be functional, and functionality must be translated into visual aesthetics, without gimmicks that have to be explained," was the credo for his design work. Porsche said, "A formally coherent product needs no embellishment, it should be increased by a mere formality." The form should be presented to understand and not distract from the product and its function. "Good design should be honest," was his conviction.

Porsche received numerous honors and awards both for his work as a car designer as well as for individual designs. The "Comité International de Promotion et de Prestige" was honored  to him in 1968 for outstanding aesthetic design of the Porsche 911, while he was chosen as the Industry Forum Design Hannover (iF) 1992 "award winners". He earned the title of professor from the Austrian Federal President in 1999.