Luigi Colani

In class we were separated into groups of two and assigned a period of design change, I was teamed with Dave Grant who opted for doing the background research whilst me doing the designer research. Our topic/period given was POSTMONDERNISM.

The designer i have chosen to research and present Is German industrial designer Luigi Colani. I have chosen Luigi because as postmodernist designer go he is certainly one of the top designer who tends to vier away from normal types of design.



Luigi Colani



Profile:

Born: 2nd August 1928

Name: Born Lutz Colani, changed later to Luigi

Luigi studied sculpture in the late 40,s in Berlin moving onto Aerodynamics in France in the 50's. He became an establish car designer, designing many car designs for Fiat and designing the first sports car (in 1957 for Alfa Romero) to complete a lap of the Nürburgring in under 10 minutes.

What make Luigi stand out from other designer for my is his determination to cancel the idea of always having to be neat and angular in our design approach. Luigi classes himself as more of a 3d philosopher than that of an industrial designer as he believe he thinks outside the box and tries to break down conventional norms of design which his own vision. Although Luigi has designed many things ranging from cutlery set for an airline to a digital camera for Canon to cars for Ferrari, he has for many years been designing prototype models some being life scale, of designes for products of the future such as flying cars and pod homes to live in.



Ferrari Testa d'oro



Canon Slr

Within all of his designs, Luigi loves to add curves and aerodynamic shape to almost every product/design he dose. As can be see from these two examples His designs instantly look futuristic.

While looking into Luigi Colani, i came across a quote that for me kind of sums up the approach taken by himself,

"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

In this comment made by Luigi he explains how he envisions natural design and ergonomic shaping being what is fundamentally incorporated into design, In other comments he has made he believes that our approach to design is to wasteful with the easiest options for material etc being opted for, his philosophy is to research the right materials which should be new ones to build lightweight but strong and natural looking designs.

Future Train

When looking at examples of Luigis work it is clear to see the natural influences he adopts, with every design incorporating curves and round corners and edges, with these characteristics he products and prototype designs seem to always look futuristic. As can be seen to the left, this design is a prototype model of a high-speed train with higher aerodynamic value than older train designs.


Funky Piano






His designs also spread into the weird and wonderful. As can be seen with this piano design, it takes a whole new look on the aesthetics of the instrument. with the adoption of serious curves the piano looks futuristic but maintains being a piano.

As with all his designs this oneis no exception, This future truck made to break the mould of todays trucks as certainly dose through aerodynamics and look, But it is this approach that defines him as a postmodernist, as he has constantly broken the mould of neat angular design, as he says. It is also for this reason why i admire his work and believe him to be a good example of a designer adopting the values of postmordernism.