Indalecio Sabbioni

From a very young age, I was always drawing, and sketching cars. I also have a passion for music; I play the saxophone and the harmonica, have sung in a few rock bands, and I´m always singing and dancing. My path into helicopter design began during high school, where I learned technical drawing. This skill allowed me to enter the Cicaré company at just 14 years old, which is when I discovered design as a formal discipline. Intrigued by the field, I initially enrolled in Graphic Design at university. However, while studying, I realized that Industrial Design aligned even closer with my passion for physics, mobility and forms, prompting me to switch majors. Since graduating, I have proudly dedicated my career to balancing both design branches.

I run Sentidosdesign, a very small, independent industrial design and visualization studio based in Argentina. I specialize in mobility, vehicle styling, and architectural and industrial visualization. Additionally, we develop corporate identity and graphic design for companies, including custom vehicle graphics and livery design. Our core philosophy revolves around delivering design precision and strategic concept design for both local initiatives and international clients.

For me, design is the balance between art and technique. It is the practice of synthesis and functional honesty. It is not about applying a superficial layer of styling to an object, but about uncovering the most efficient, integrated, and simple solution to a complex human or technical problem. True design must establish a seamless dialogue between the user, the material, and the environment, ensuring that form never compromises safety or performance, but rather optimizes them.

My favorite design is the Cicaré 8 Ultralight Helicopter. It represents the ultimate summit of my career because of its technical complexity and the depth of the industrial design challenge. For this project, I took charge of the conceptual design starting directly from the metallic chassis and managing the entire 3D modeling process for both the interior and exterior of the cabin. While I already had extensive experience working on the brand's previous aircraft models, this was the first project in which I personally developed the advanced 3D models required for direct CNC milling of the manufacturing molds. Shaping an aircraft aimed for certification demanded a perfect alignment between fluid 3d modeling surfacing and rigid mechanical engineering boundaries. Seeing the helicopter fly beautifully while achieving world-first international safety certifications, and now receiving this prestigious global recognition, is a deeply rewarding validation of our design work and philosophy.

My focus is strictly centered on human-centered ergonomics and engineering boundaries, analyzing every product from the inside out. I dedicate my energy to studying user perception, and natural physical comfort during operation. I work directly over the actual mechanical layouts to ensure the resulting aesthetic is perfectly integrated with structural realities, maintenance accessibility, and manufacturing methods. At the beginning of any development, I always question and rethink the entire situation from scratch. My goal is to simplify everything, as I believe this deep simplicity and honesty naturally produce a balanced, attractive result.

Designers carry a responsibility to shape a more sustainable and efficient future. We must actively move away from ephemeral commercial trends and focus on creating long-lasting, purposeful products. Personally, I channel this responsibility through my own open-source endeavor, which focuses on innovating and reinventing new bicycle typologies to democratize urban transportation through functional, shared global knowledge.

I do my best work by embedding myself directly into the client's internal marketing, engineering, manufacturing, and workshop teams right from the very beginning of a project. While complex industrial and aerospace developments demand deep multidisciplinary collaboration, my methodology is to work side-by-side with the technical personnel. This co-design approach allows me to absorb their realities first, so I can individually manage the industrial design phases in perfect alignment with their structural execution and tool behaviors. By designing together with their team from day one, we ensure absolute cohesion and an optimal final result.

My design process is a highly iterative, hybrid workflow that moves constantly between analog intuition and digital precision. I always start by analyzing and questioning the initial situation from scratch. Once the fundamental core problem starts arising, I transition into freehand sketches to rapidly explore character and proportions. As a strong concept emerges and the client is in line with that, I move into advanced parametric 3D modeling, sculpting the surfaces directly over the actual mechanical components and engineering constraints. This constant interplay allows for fine-tuning, ensuring that overall performance is verified simultaneously from the inside out.

My primary advice for the next generation of designers is to actively step away from the digital screen and immerse themselves directly on the workshop floor. True innovation in complex industrial design cannot be achieved only through superficial sketches or isolated digital rendering. Young designers must integrate into multidisciplinary teams and physically work with materials and machinery. Understanding the raw physics of constraints, manufacturing limits, and tool behaviors firsthand, while concurrently learning to manage real production times and manufacturing costs, is what transforms a conceptual stylist into a rigorous, respected professional capable of bridging the gap between artistic vision and complex engineering.

The absolute best part of being a designer is the endless learning cycle and the thrill of creation. Every project forces you to master something new, whether it is an emerging technology like AI, advanced software, or entirely different industries. In my career, I have jumped from helicopters and graphic identity to commercial vessels and modular architecture. There is an immense, almost magical satisfaction in closing your eyes to imagine how something should look and function, detailing it piece by piece through drawing and 3D modeling, and finally seeing it built and operating in the real world. On the negative side, many clients still misunderstand the complexity of our discipline, often reducing design to mere decorative drawing or trying to dictate the shapes themselves. This makes it consistently challenging to communicate the real strategic value we bring to a business and, consequently, to establish fair commercial fees for our technical expertise.

My most important and transformative professional experience has been my continuous, decades-long collaboration with the late Augusto "Pirincho" Cicaré and his exceptional team. Working side-by-side with him since 1991 allowed me to fully absorb his vast empirical knowledge regarding physics, material dynamics, and mechanical criteria. He possessed an unparalleled intuitive precision. This intense technical exchange, combined with introducing him to the power of parametric 3D modeling and sitting next to him to bridge analog wisdom with design workflows, deeply defined my methodology as an industrial designer. Furthermore, the aircraft we build are true masterpieces of engineering; every single model presents a unique challenge and a profound professional satisfaction.

My focus is to expand the global reach of Sentidosdesign by taking on complex challenges in mobility, technical product development, and visualization. In collaboration with Cicaré, we are currently conceptualizing next-generation aircraft models. Concurrently, I am committed to driving my open-source sustainable mobility initiative forward. This project focuses on reinventing bicycle typologies to solve overlooked ergonomic and urban issues, creating low-cost, highly efficient transport solutions for people whose daily needs are not yet properly met by existing market alternatives.

We are continuously prototyping new aviation concepts with Cicaré. I´m also involved in collaborating with a shipbuilding company on the design of commercial fishing vessels and port facilities. In parallel to that, I am advancing the engineering files for our open-source sustainable mobility project. This initiative focuses on reinventing bicycle typologies to address specific ergonomic and transit needs. Right now we are working on three distinct solutions: Duetta: A compact tandem bicycle designed to optimize urban space and democratize shared transportation, offering a highly agile and practical alternative to standard, oversized tandem configurations. Cargo: A dedicated utility bicycle engineered to maximize front loading capacity and stability, facilitating heavy or volumetric cargo transit in dense urban centers without compromising rider maneuverability. Quadrupedal: An alternative human-powered vehicle that completely redefines the interaction between body and machine. Inspired by the kinematics of quadrupedal animals, it breaks the conventional bicycle paradigm by transforming all four limbs into active driving motors. Rather than seeking extreme optimization for competition, its core purpose is to maximize comfort, ergonomics, and a comprehensive, full-body workout within recreational environments.

Prospective clients, manufacturers, and international collaborators can easily explore our portfolio, review our latest visual assets, and get in direct contact with us through our official digital landing page or professional network links: - Official Website: https://sentidosdesign.com/hello/ - LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/indaleciosabbioni/