German industrial designer Luigi Colani, renowned for his curvaceous product and transport designs, has died in his home country at the age of 91.
Colani was best known for the curved, organic forms of his designs, which he described as "biodynamic", including the Pegasus grand piano for manufacturer Schimmel and numerous vehicles.
The designer passed away yesterday, Monday 16 September, in Karlsruhe, southwest Germany, his partner Yazhen Zha confirmed.
Influenced the next generation 
Colani's pioneering use of organic forms is widely acknowledged to have influenced subsequent generations of architects and designers, including the late architect Zaha Hadid.
"His influence is felt from me to Zaha to Ross Lovegrove and so many others," wrote designer Karim Rashid on Twitter. Rashid called him "my idol" and "my friend". "He was such an extremist, he was a pop star, controversial among the critics, he was prolific, he was a pluralist touching everything from shoes to pens to spaceships to monorails to bathrobes," Rashid told Dezeen.
Describing the first time he came across Colani's work as a teenager, Rashid said: "I came across a designer who was broader than Raymond Loewy in sweep, more utopian that Buckminster Fuller, more organic than Noguchi, more technological than Eames, more aerodynamic than Pininfarina, and much more human and passionate than Dieter Rams."
Spitzer Silo truck by Luigi Colani
Colani worked in m...