Ferdinand Alexander Porsche and the Design DNA of the 911

Discover how Porsche marks 90 years of Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, creator of the 911 and founder of Porsche Design, and why his design still matters.

On 11 December 2025, the day Ferdinand Alexander Porsche would have turned 90, Porsche is looking back at the man who gave the brand its unmistakable face. As the eldest son of Ferry Porsche and grandson of company founder Ferdinand Porsche, he shaped not only the silhouette of the 911, but also a design philosophy that still underpins both the sports cars from Zuffenhausen and the products of Porsche Design.

Born in Stuttgart in 1935 and known in the family as "Butzi", Ferdinand Alexander Porsche spent part of his childhood in Zell am See after the company relocated there during the war. After the family returned to Stuttgart, he attended a Waldorf school and later studied at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm, a key centre of post-war functionalist design. Although he left the school after only two semesters, the Ulm principles of reduction, clarity and function would stay with him.

In 1957 he joined the design department at Porsche, working under body designer Erwin Komenda. By 1962 he was head of the company’s design studio. In this role he developed the Type 754 T7 prototype, an important step towards the series-production 911: its front end already anticipated the new model, while the rear section was still being refined. These early sketches formed the basis for the car that would replace the 356.

The new model was first shown to the public in 1963 as the Porsche 901. Following a dispute over model designations it entered production as the 911, but the shape remained unmistakable. With its flowing roofline, rear-mounted engine and clean, tensioned surfaces, the 2+2-seater created by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche became the template for all subsequent generations. Today Porsche still describes this work as defining the brand’s design DNA.

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche also left his mark on the race track. In 1963 and 1964 he designed the Porsche 904 Carrera GTS, a mid-engined sports car built for the FIA GT class with a glass-fibre-reinforced plastic body mounted on a steel frame. Around 100 cars were produced for homologation, and the 904 went on to score class wins and strong results at events such as Targa Florio, Le Mans, Sebring, Spa and Watkins Glen. It was both technically advanced and visually elegant, and it became one of the key milestones of his automotive work alongside the 911 and 914.

In the early 1970s, when members of the Porsche family left the company’s executive positions, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche also stepped back from operational management. In 1972 he founded the Porsche Design Studio in Stuttgart, transferring his approach from sports cars to everyday objects. Two years later the studio moved to Zell am See, where he could work in the alpine environment that had shaped his childhood.

The first product of the new studio was the Chronograph I from 1972, regarded as the world’s first entirely black wristwatch. Inspired by the instrument panel of the 911, it featured a matte black dial, white indices and a red seconds hand for optimum legibility. In the 1980s, Porsche Design, in cooperation with IWC, introduced one of the first titanium chronographs in the watch industry, again underlining the brand’s focus on innovative materials. The eyewear line followed a similar path: the P’8478 sunglasses of 1978 offered an interchangeable lens system and were produced in much greater numbers than originally planned, while the shield-like P’8479 gained cult status, not least because Yoko Ono wore the model in public. The TecFlex writing instruments, with their woven stainless-steel sheaths, translated motorsport-inspired materials into the world of everyday objects.

Over the decades the work of Porsche Design and Studio F. A. Porsche has expanded far beyond watches and eyewear to include furniture, consumer electronics, household appliances and even yachts. Since 2003 the accessories and licensing business of Porsche and Porsche Design has been bundled, and today Porsche Lifestyle GmbH & Co. KG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Porsche AG. Its declared aim is to use the potential of the Porsche name beyond the automobile and to continue the life’s work of Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche.

At the core of that work lies a clear philosophy. "Good design must be honest," he said. For him that meant avoiding superfluous decoration and letting function guide every decision. Influenced by the functionalist tradition and the Ulm school, he believed that if the function of an object is rethought, its form will often emerge almost by itself. This attitude can be seen both in the timeless lines of the 911 and in the purist aesthetics of Porsche Design products, which combine intelligent functionality with restrained elegance.

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche died on 5 April 2012 in Salzburg at the age of 76; his urn is buried in Zell am See. Yet his legacy remains very much alive. In 2022 the Porsche Museum marked "50 Years of Porsche Design" with a special exhibition tracing five decades of products, while Porsche launched the 911 Edition 50 Years Porsche Design, limited to 750 examples, and restored a 1972 911 S 2.4 Targa associated with his work. Studio F. A. Porsche has been honoured as Red Dot: Design Team of the Year, and its current projects continue to draw on the principles he formulated. Many of his designs are still produced or have been reissued decades after their debut, underlining the timeless character that Porsche itself attributes to his work.