Peter Lyon
February 25, 2026
Put legendary Milanese designer Elena Salmistraro in a space with the Lamborghini Fenomeno, and the sparks fly. The adrenalin of lines and surfaces, the energies of geometry, the artistry communicated by the mythology of a machine: Elena Salmistraro, with her love of shape, color and textural dialogue, is driven to put pencil to paper, funnelling the emotions generated by Fenomeno into her own creative output.
The new video from Automobili Lamborghini, ‘Sculpting the soul’, puts together the tour de force of Lamborghini Fenomeno with the intrepid design spirit of Elena. She describes the effect of Fenomeno and her inspirational sources: the design DNA of Lamborghini meets the creative brilliance of a woman recognised globally for her work with world-renowned brands as well as her broad artistic expression across iconic objets d’art to interiors and structural installations.
“Design for me is a dream,” says Elena. “It’s energy and life. Everything I do starts with a mark, a gesture on paper, and every day I am inspired to draw. I say I am not always so good with words, I better express myself through drawings and colors, then I’m always in touch with the narrative. That’s how I feel around Fenomeno: there are no words. I want to touch it and feel it, its lines, surfaces, the interior. The very materials such as carbon fiber demand a tactile interaction.”
The few-off Lamborghini Fenomeno takes Lamborghini’s most resonant stylistic features to the extreme. Celebrating 20 years of the Lamborghini Centro Stile design center and two decades since the first Lamborghini few-off, the Reventón, was presented, the hybrid Fenomeno sports the most powerful V12 engine in Lamborghini’s history combined with electric motors for a total power output of 1,080 CV. All sold, just 29 of the iconic-design Fenomeno models will be created and delivered to owners worldwide.
“Fenomeno is so aptly named: it’s something you cannot ignore, a true phenomenon that breaks with ordinary in every dimension,” says Elena. “The level of detail is extraordinary, at every turn and from every angle you see its personality, an identity. I am exhilarated by geometric surfaces, lines and the way color interacts with those and with the hexagon motifs, the Ypsilon features, the Fenomeno is authentic Lamborghini. Its expression is a delight.
“Like Lamborghini, I am truly Italian. I have lived in Milan all my life and I am immersed in the inspiration drawn from my culture and country but also farther afield. My studio is where I shape new design projects, but stepping outside is where I always find new vision, from nature, mythology, street culture.
CARLIST THOUGHTS
As a designer, she is driven to create something that demands questions of us and all our senses, that goes beyond the familiar to stir the soul. That was her encounter with the Lamborghini Fenomeno.
