Umberto Onza

Umberto Onza is the Lead Industrial Designer of TBWA\Helsinki. Umberto started in the company in 2013 as a designer and a concept strategist. After studying industrial design and strategic planning, he was immediately drafted into massive projects and productions at TBWA, both Finnish and international.

As an industrial designer, Umberto is a rare breed in the advertising field, while not too many agencies do their design projects in-house. Umberto is a part of the core innovation team here at TBWA and in the spring of 2018 we launched our own TBWA\Innovation Lab to make their job a bit easier. At the Innovation Lab, Umberto does prototyping, validates and develops new concepts and keeps an eye out for future innovations. The work done in the lab has proven to be a very powerful asset for TBWA\Helsinki.

The best learning experiences for Umberto have been the projects that have required a full production line. For example in the development of The Paulig Muki and the What?Watch smartwatch collection, Umberto was overseeing the entire production alongside engineers and mechanical designers from start to finish.

The normal workdays at TBWA are all but conveyor belts however, while everyday is different. According to Umberto, the work community at the office is better than he could have ever imagined.