You’d be forgiven for thinking that Luigi Colani was an Italian designer. In fact, he was born Lutz Colani in Berlin, in 1928.
Our first introduction to Luigi Colani was the plastic Drumbo money boxes (seen top) that were given away to customers when they opened an account with Dresdner Bank. However, it’s a much-repeated mistake attributing the design to Colani. In fact, the plastic money boxes (later also available in porcelain and metal) were created by Bernd Diefenbach in 1972.
Anyway, we digress. He may not have designed the elephants, however, what didn’t he design? Name any type of product, and Colani has turned his hand to creating a version. Furniture, glassware, sanitary ware, cutlery, fashion, watches, eyewear, cars, boats, planes and even cash machines.
We’re so taken with the sanitary ware that he designed in the 1975 for Villeroy and Boch – we added a few images in our collage above. It was produced in a number of colourways that were popular at the time – green, pink, orange, blue… If we had the right house and came across a salvaged suite for sale, we’d design our entire bathroom around it – it’s absolutely magnificent!
He had a long, varied and successful career collaborating with a number of companies creating over 5,000 product designs. They can be counted on to be colourful, curvaceous, organic, exciting and futuristic!
Here are just a few from the 60s to the 80s:
1968: Loop chair for Poly-COR (pictured above)
1968: Orbis modular seating for Cor
1968: Garden Party chair for Heinz Essmann
1969 Elmar desk for Flötotto
1970: Sadima lounge chair for BASF (4 versions pictured above)
1971: Drop Tea Service for Rosenthal (white set, pictured above)
1972: Zocker chair for Top-System Burkhard Lübke (2 (one yellow, one orange) pictured above)
1973: Tulip armchair for Lusch Germany (pictured above)
1981: Zen tea service for Melitta Friesland (black set, pictured above)
1982: Pelikan №1, №2, and P80 ballpoint pen in various colours (pictured above)
Colani died at the age of 91 in 2019.
