LUIGI COLANI

 

 

"Everything in nature can be explained. Because human beings are part of nature."

 

Nature is the starting point. This is the central concept in Prof. Luigi Colani`s philosophy of bio-dynamics. Colani, who gains much of his inspiration from nature, stresses that his designs consist of shapes based on the creations of nature: "I do not more than imitate the thruths revealed to me by nature!"

 

LUIGI COLANI is certainly one of the most famous designers of our time, yet one of the most controversial as well. There are the ones who see him as a professional critic or a design entertainer, but there are also those who almost worship him as a genious and a philosopher. He has not only designed products such as cars, motorcycles and aircrafts but also many other common items that affect us in our daily lives. These products include sport equipment, household goods, furniture, bathrooms appliances, cameras and other electronic equipments, computers, jewelry, frames and so on. Just to mention one example, Prof. Luigi Colani has designed the CANON T-90 camera. this camera not only won the camera of the year 1987 price but also set the trend for ergonomic camera design which is dominant today. And for Mazda, he designed the Mazda MX-5, a round shaped car design which has set the trend for future car designs.

 

LUIGI COLANI biography

"The earth is round, all the heavenly bodies are around; they all move on round or elliptical orbits. This same image of circular globe-shaped mini worlds orbiting around each other follows us right down to the microcosmos. We are even aroused by round forms in species propagation related eroticism. Why should I join the straying mass who want to make everything angular? I am going to pursue Galileo Galilei`s philosophy: my world is also round." Luigi Colani.

1928

Born in Berlin, father comes from Madulain near St. Moritz in Switzerland

1946

Studied sculpture at the Akademie der Künste Berlin

1948

Studied aerodynamics at the Sorbonne in Paris

1953

Head of New Materials project group at McDonell-Douglas in California

1954

Golden Rose, Geneva, for special Fiat bodywork, originator of Fiat designs for the coming years

1957

Colani Alfa is the first sportscar to drive round the Nürburgring in under 10 minutes; can now be seen in the Martini Rosso Museum

1958

Racing catamaran success in Hawaii

1959

World`s first monocoque sportscar: BMW 700

1960

World`s first kit car in series: 1700 cars, Colani GT

1965

World-wide success with furniture design: Asko, Fritz-Hansen, Cor, Kusch+Co.

1966

Sports coupé, IAA Frankfurt

1970

Headquarters with major design team at Harkotten Castle. Enourmous success, work and exhibitions world-wide for nearly all companies of major repute

1972

First contacts with Japanese companies

1973

First Far East study trip; Japan recognizes Colani`s potential. Invitation by five companies to establish a Colani Design Center Japan. Rosenthal`s Teapot Drop designed by Colani in Cooper-Hewitt Museum in N.Y.

1976

Construction of first plastic sports airplane with Wankel-engine: Fanliner

1978

Revolutionary trucks, aircrafts, car and ship studies at exhibitions world-wide

1981

Economy world record Colani 2CV, 1.7 litres for 100km/hours

1982

Move to Japan

1983

Professor in Japan

1984

No. 1 industrial designer in Japan; Otaru exhibition, 60m large shell

1985

Colani Robot Theatre number 1 at the Tokyo Tsukuba Expo

1986

Golden Camera Award for the Canon T-90. Colani motorcycle world record in Italy. Foundation of the Colani Design Bern, Switzerland

1987

Colani exhibition at Centre Pompidou, Paris. Car design for Mazda, Japan. Pen design for Pelikan, Germany

1988

Toulouse and Bremen branch offices. Professor h.c. of the Hochschule für Gestaltung, Bremen. Preparation on a wide-scale basis for land, water and air speed and economy world records in Utah, USA

1989

SONY headphones by Colani in Museum of Modern Art, N.Y. Foundation of Colani Trading AG in Zürich, Switzerland

1990

Exhibition in Car Museum of Paris; Presentation of the new SWISSAIR uniforms designed by Colani

1991

Creation of frames and jewelry collection; world record with Colani Ferrari on the Salt Lake in Utah, USA

1992

Computer mouse design for Sicos; creation of the Colani cosmetics range; Colani signs a contract with European`s biggest computer chain VOBIS, Germany

1993

Presentation of the Colani field glasses; Shopping center exposition through Switzerland

1994

Colani Vobis Highscreen computer gets award for the Computer of the Year 1994. Cooperation with Carl Zeiss Jena

1995

Cologne, Germany opens new head office of Colani`s design works. Designs for major companies in the construction and building branch. China`s ambassador invited Colani for future projects to Shanghai, China, and he gets a professor title of the most famous University of Shanghai, Tongji

1996

Office furniture designs for Grahl, Michigan USA. Architecture project presentation for Shanghai, China, called Bio-City

1997

Creation of the new piano for SCHIMMEL, famous piano constructor. Start of the DESIGN-show through more than 30 shopping centers in Germany

1998

Final preparations for the Colani Museum, to be opened in the year 2001.....

1999

Start of a bank-terminal design project with one of the world leading computer manufacturers. Design for a new microscope and photo camera at the Colani Shanghai office

2000

Presentation of a new "shower" (bathroom-combination)-generation for the German company DUSAR. Furniture project with Kusch + Co.,Germany. A world leader of porcelain, ROSENTHAL, Germany , plans to promote a special edition of the famous teapot "Drop" designed by Colani

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luigi Colani. Success by amazement

 

Georg-Christof Bertsch, Domus n. 798, November 1997

2 jul 2001

 

 

 

Luigi Colani with one of his ideal forms, the egg. Photo Domus 798/97

 

 

 

 

Prototype of sports car in the early ‘70s. Photo Domus 798/97

 

 

 

 

Prototype for body mounted on a Citroën 2CV, 1980.

 

 

 

 

… After studying painting and sculpture at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Berlin, Colani went to Paris, where he studied aerodynamics and drew futuristic studies for car and motorcycle magazines. In 1954 he returned to Germany, where he worked for the car-body builders Rometsch and Erdmann & Rossi. During this period, too, he designed the Colani GT Spider; the only one of his car-body designs to have been produced in any significant quantity to date. Some 500 of these were produced, designed to be mounted as a kit-car on a VW chassis.
… Colani is convinced that almost all design questions have already been answered by Nature. His favourite car, aircraft and ship designs have all been inspired by observations of the natural world, by the morphology of birds and fish. Colani regards himself as superior to computers, and doesn’t use them for the design even of highly complex, dynamic objects. “If I design a high-speed form, I try to understand what nature would have done. If I am building a hydrodynamic shape, I look at the shark and its shape: 140 million years without change – is that success?”