Bio Design: Luigi Colani's View of Future Motorcycling

Bio Design: Luigi Colani’s View of Future Motorcycling

ROUNDUP

THE WORLD IS FULL OF DEsigners with clever ideas on how to create this or shape that. But few have the flair, the charm and the color of Luigi Colani, a Swiss who has spent his life not only designing what he sees as the products of the future, but talking about these designs to anyone who will listen

“Straight lines do not exist in nature,” declared Colani during a recent seminar at California’s Pasadena Art Center of Design. “We must design products that respect nature.” Colani calls this philosophy “bio design,” and he has applied it to everything from cameras to cars to motorcycles.

For his Automorrow ’89 show, held on the Bonneville Salt Flats last October, Colani designed a collection of bicycles, autos and motorcycles, all displaying his special flair. One of the most interesting of his designs is a two-wheeler he calls Utah 1 3, a Suzuki-powered streamliner with which Colani hopes to break Don Vesco’s land-speed record. True to Colani’s form, the bike employs very few straight lines. Equally interesting, but in a rather different corner of the performance spectrum, is his Utah 4, a streamliner that employs pedals, as well as an 80cc V-Eight engine.

But those, like the other Automorrow ’89 exhibits, are just attention-getters, created to display Colani’s vision of a future, bio-designed world where motorcycles play a vital role in transportation. Railroads, he says, will have to handle the duties of cross-country transportation in the future, while motorcycles, as well as bicycles and ultra-small cars, will be used for urban transportation. These motorcycles, Colani believes, will be long and low, reflecting his taste for aerodynamically designed vehicles.

Whether or not Colani’s future world comes into being remains to be seen. But for right now, the charismatic designer will go right ahead designing and lecturing, and making sure that at least his little corner of today’s world is free of straight lines. —Ron Lawson