German industrial designer Luigi Colani has been rethinking the future since the '40s, and over the course of those many decades he has applied a rounded, streamlined look to cars and trucks, kitchens, spacecraft, furniture, and whatever else he can dream up. We call him a designer, but he calls himself a "3-D philosopher."
"The earth is round, all the heavenly bodies are round; they all move on round or elliptical orbits," Colani once said. "…I am going to pursue Galileo Galilei's philosophy: my world is also round."
Pictured above is Luigi Colani himself sitting in his "satellite kitchen," designed in 1969. It may look a bit cramped, but every appliance in the fully-featured (for 1969, anyhow) kitchenette is easily reached by someone sitting at the orb's center. Colani remarks that his concepts aren't mere propositions, but rather answers to questions that design proposes. And those answers aren't unheard: Colani has won numerous awards and his work influences the course of contemporary design.
Check out the gallery below for more of Luigi Colani's futuristic designs.
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Luigi Colani, via Dark Roasted Blend
editor@dvice.com
By MuckRaker at 6:01 PM ON 05/27/08
Colani is a quack and a charlatan.
By horst at 1:38 AM ON 05/28/08
A friend of mine owned a Colani designed pc. Every time you pressed the eject button from the 3,5" fdd it shot out about 1,5m. Exactly where the dustbin stood.
I'd rather be dead then use anything designed by Colani.
And pleaseplease don't bury me in a Colani designed coffin!
http://www.colani.ch/news.htm
By pifcat at 12:03 PM ON 05/28/08
I admire the designer, met him at Art Center in the mid 80's doing a workshop if you can call it that. Wild fashionable models, music, props including big chained cats; Colani knows how to dazzle...
By Sian at 1:17 PM ON 05/28/08
Good lord his sweater is enormous!
By Redcat at 5:13 PM ON 06/01/08
Check out more great Colani designs at
www.colani.org
By Anonymous at 8:25 PM ON 12/10/08
In my opinion he not only is a great designer,but also a futuristic visionary.Of immense proportions.I hope that he continues to amaze us with more of his futuristic designs.