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Luigi Colani

Luigi Colani Books

Industrial designer

Luigi Colani, born on August 2, 1928, is an internationally renowned industrial designer from Italy. Known for his unique design style, his work spans across various fields such as cars, aircraft, and furniture, characterized by minimalist, fluid, and eco-friendly design philosophies. Colani's designs are not only aesthetically pleasing but also functional and practical, leaving a profound impact on modern industrial design.

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Related Quotes

“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.”

World Philosophy Earth Moving

Author:Luigi Colani

“I was 3 years old, and we had a very rich neighbor in Berlin who drove a Mercedes sports car. I remember standing behind this car, admiring the trunk, how nicely shaped it was, for an hour. That shape has never left me - I could design it today!”

Today Remember Sports Hours Rich Car Design Neighbor Admiring

Author:Luigi Colani

“Everybody in Germany was for the -German cause. But then, after the war ended, when I heard the first Glenn Miller sound on the radio and these fantastic American music makers, I turned into a jazz fanatic. They called me Benny, after Benny Goodman. So, all of a sudden, the eyes of young Germans were opened to America - everything American was absolutely at the top of the list.”

War Eye Jazz Fantastic

Author:Luigi Colani

“I consider myself a 3-D philosopher. I am not a designer at all. I studied aerodynamics, I studied philosophy, I studied sculpture. High technology on one side, and on the other side, art.”

Art Philosophy Technology Philosopher Designer

Author:Luigi Colani

“I learned to ask myself questions like: Why is something made the way it is? Why does a motorcar look like it does? Is it right or wrong? What is an airplane? Why is it shaped like that? Then, later, I became a diver and studied subaquatic life and the streamlining of sharks and manta rays. Any fish is superior to the shapes we humans have invented - and unchanged for 250 million years, imagine!”

Imagine Airplane

Author:Luigi Colani

“It took two years of me telling Canon engineers that a camera is a thing between the human hand and the human eye, so it had to have ergonomics on both sides! They got the message, and we did it, and overnight it was the camera of the world. Everyone - Nikon, Yashica, Sony - all copied Colani.”

Author:Luigi Colani

“Everybody was inspired by the drawings and the wind tunnels and the race cars - but no one wanted to work with me because I had a reputation for being an aerodynamic dictator!”

Car Inspired Reputation Dictator Race Car

Author:Luigi Colani

“1973 was the first gasoline crisis in the world. That year, I designed the first aerodynamic truck, eating 40 percent less fuel. I put it on exhibit everywhere. It was 30 years ahead of its time. Nobody is building it today, and everybody still has problems with their boxy cars and trucks eating up fuel.”

World Problem Today Car Building Eating Crisis Truck

Author:Luigi Colani

“You see, if you are 30 years ahead of your time, you will always have difficulty speaking with the bosses in the industry. They are too conservative.”

Difficulty Conservative Boss

Author:Luigi Colani

“The thing is, 75 percent of design today is absolutely outdated. It all has to be redesigned with the materials and knowledge that we now have. We know so much more than what we are doing.”

Author:Luigi Colani

“It isn't easy for me to have contact with the industry, because it is so outdated. Look at General Motors, look at -Mercedes, look at Chrysler, look at Porsche, look at BMW . . . They are all building cars from yesterday! Nobody has an idea how the car of tomorrow should look. I've built them already. I have the prototypes in my exhibition, but they won't do it.”

Easy Car Building Tomorrow Motor Prototype General Motors

Author:Luigi Colani

“The world is super-stupid. You have by far the best designers in America! And you do the most stupid cars in the world! They put billions into their stupid designs for General Motors, Chrysler, Buick, or who knows what. The designers in America must be frustrated. I am not frustrated, because I am not a designer - I am a philosopher, and all philosophers have said for ages that the world around them is stupid.”

World Age Car Stupid Design Philosopher Designer Frustrated Motor General Motors

Author:Luigi Colani

“Look at nature - look at birds, look at fish. Things that look good, work good. People don't get the message of ergonomics.”

People Bird Good People Good Work

Author:Luigi Colani

“Well, sex is life. You know, if you don't do it anymore, you can take a spoon and go into the woods and dig yourself a hole and be finished! Eroticism is the driving force behind everything in the world.”

Author:Luigi Colani

“It is absolutely the central theme in my design philosophy - that life is erotic, period. The female body is one of the most extraordinary designs ever done in this universe.”

Done Philosophy Universe Design Female Extraordinary Female Body

Author:Luigi Colani

“China came from a communist dictatorship of the ugliest kind to become a country which today has a smiling population. Things are getting better and better every day - you can feel it, you can touch it over here!”

Kind Country Today Get Better Communist Dictatorship

Author:Luigi Colani

“America is very conservative. It is not a very modern country. If you look at the population, they are very serious, very nice, very good people. I love the Americans. But they are too serious to be modern. But it's not too late. With the last election, America has proven that it's a very young country at heart. We have big hopes in the world that we can again love America for what it is.”

People World Heart Country Nice Modern Serious Election Very Good Conservative Good People Very Nice

Author:Luigi Colani

“An architect has to build the building from the inside out, not the outside in!”

Building Architect

Author:Luigi Colani

“If I had been president, I would have come out and declared: "Nothing there, ever! This place stays as it is. We make a big place there where people can pray about the errors we have made that those two towers had to fall."”

People Fall President Praying Two Towers

Author:Luigi Colani

“I'm a very peaceful man. In the '80s, I was the chief designer at Thyssen, one of the biggest companies in Germany. But when they asked me to design armored vehicles, tanks, and submarines, I quit overnight.”

Men Design Quitting Peaceful Designer Vehicle I Quit

Author:Luigi Colani

About the Author

Born: August 2, 1928
Known for: Industrial designer
Quotes: 20

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