====== Luigi Colani ====== Luigi Colani, (born in Berlin on August 2, 1928 as Lutz Colani) is a Swiss designer with Kurd ancestors. 1946 he studied sculpture and painting in Berlin, 1949 to 1952, he studied aerodynamics at the Sorbonne in Paris. {{http://www.thedesignencyclopedia.org/_a/i/180px-Luigicolani.jpg}} In the 1950s he designed cars for companies such as [[Fiat]], [[Alfa Romeo]], [[Lancia]], [[Volkswagen]], and [[BMW]]. In 1957, he dropped his given first name Lutz and henceforth went by the name of Luigi. In the 1960s, he began designing furniture, and as of the 1970s, he expanded in numerous areas, ranging from small household items such as ballpoint pens or television sets to trucks or whole kitchens. A very striking grand piano created by Colani is manufactured and sold by the Schimmel piano company (image from Colani Web site). 1972 he designed the Eifelland formula one car, driven in the F1 World championship only that year. Currently, he lives in Karlsruhe, Germany, and works as a product designer for [[DaimlerChrysler]]. "The earth is round, all the heavenly bodies are round; 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. ====Timeline==== 1928 Born in Berlin, father comes from Madulain near St. Moritz in Switzerland \\ 1946 Study of sculpture at the Akademie der Künste Berlin \\ 1948 Study of 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 and clocked a lap 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 near Sassenberg, Germany. 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, aircraft, car and ship studies at exhibitions world-wide \\ 1981 Economy world record Colani 2CV, 1.7 litres for 100km \\ 1982 Relocation to Japan \\ 1983 Professor in Japan/Tokyo \\ 1984 No. 1 industrial designer in Japan; Otaru exhibition, 60m large shell \\ 1985 World: 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 record speed on land, water and air and economy world records in Utah, USA \\ 1989 SONY headphones by Colani in Museum of Modern Art, New York. Formation of the company 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 optical frames and jewellery 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 Europe`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 industry. 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 Start of a bank-terminal design project with one of the world´s leading computer manufacturers. Design for a new microscope and photo camera at the Colani Shanghai office. Water-bottle design for CAROLINEN-Brunnen-Germany. \\ 1999 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 \\ 2000 "Human-City" architecture model by MW Energie AG-Mannheim-Germany. COLANI-optical-frames presentation at optical-shows in Milano, Paris and Las Vegas. \\ 2001 Design for a new microscope and photo camera (for Seagull) at the Colani Shanghai office. 6 exhibitions through shopping-malls (ECE-group) throughout Germany. COLANI-Calendar for Castrol-Germany. \\ 2002 Leading Swiss mineral-water company VALSER (aquired by Coca-Cola in 2002) presents new bottle-design by Colani. Start of another exhibtion-tour through over 25 shopping-malls (until 2004) by ECE-Group. Opening of a world-leading Design-museum, Pinakothek , in Munich-Germany (including serveral COLANI-designs). Spitzer-Silo presents new COLANI-truck at IAA-Hannover-Germany. \\ 2003 uniforms designed for the police Hamburg/Germany. For hp-aircraft.de : design of the tt-62-plane - over 40 units of this business-jet sold already! Futuristic car design : Speedster shark (see "Visions") \\ 2004 Guest Speaker and Presenter at World Economic Forum WEF in Davos/Switzerland. Porcelain giftware creations (Cappuccino,Espresso mugs). "Life on Board" project for VOLVO cars House design for Hanse-Haus/Germany =====Links===== [[http://www.colani.de/|Colani.de]]\\ [[http://www.colani.ch/|Colani.ch]]