Goodbye, Luigi Colani! We mourn the loss of the master of futuristic design

The news reached us today: Designer and professional enfant terrible Luigi Colani, passed away today, aged 91, in Karlsruhe, Germany.

With Luigi, we have lost a true bullhead in the design world, an unwavering designer of his very own style – which is exactly why he is loved for his signature pieces. More than once, he proclaimed: “My world is round”: And yes, Luigi hated corners and edges, all his designs are rather round and organic!

There is probably nothing Luigi – the universal designer – has not designed. Unforgettable and until today unsurpassed is his overtly luxurary Colani truck for Mercedes Benz with electric drive, or his Ferrari Testa D'Oro. His ergonomically shaped Canon T90 reflex camera revolutionized the camera world.

Yet, not everybody approved of Colanis unusual work and persona: He has responded to the neglect of the professional world, mainly in the 70s and 80s, with even more work and energy - and a sassy arrogance, with which he enjoyed to provoke the design scene. Loud and with drastic words, he has scolded his profession more than once and staged himself as enfant terrible.

The design world has lost such a daring, unafraid mind in so many ways!

Our thoughts are with his family and all his friends who just like us are left deeply saddened by this news.