Page 4 - Sorcha Mathews
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Bio
“I am a three dimentional philosopher of the future”
Born in 1928, Luigi Colani began his design career in the 1950’s as a car designer for companies
such as Fiat, Alpha Romeo, Lancia, Volkswagon and Bmw.
He also dabbled in furniture design in the 1960’s, then expanded in numerous areas such as
household items to musical instruments.
Colani’s car designs were heavily influenced by aerodynamics, a topic which he studied in Paris
before becoming a designer.
Colani was also advanced in plastic design, earning himself the name “plastic Guru”.
He was well known for applying sensuous shapes from nature to high tech, futuristic objects like
supersonic jets and and sports cars.
The main characteristic of Colanis designs is what he refers to as “biodynamic”, meaning the forms
of his products are rounded and organic, and he claims they are ergonomically superior to tradi-
tional designs.
He rejected austere angles and straight lines.
Some considered colanis work as overdone, impractical or utopian, whereas others considered
him a visionary in an unimaginative world.
