Jan Wilsgaard
Jan Wilsgaard (* 1930 in New York City ) is a Norwegian car designers, the vehicles of the Swedish automaker Volvo gave a distinctive look over four decades and numerous model series. In 1950, the sculptor and interior designer moved directly from the College of Art in Gothenburg at Volvo and soon rose to the head of the design department.
Already on Amazon worked with the designer. He was inspired by Italian, British and American car designers. The Amazon Assar Gabrielsson criticized, one of the two founders of Volvo, as too pretty: "The car looks like a pin-up girl is too pretty. [ ... ] It should be ugly. "
Many fans feel the Volvo 164 as a special highlight in the work of the designer. Important but seems especially the Volvo 140 In this series, the fundamentals of Volvo design line were to ultimately set in the 1990s,. Here, the "shoulder" of the Volvo car bodies and the " smiling " framework developed, a rectangle with rounded edges, which tapers towards the bottom, and especially striking in the chrome surround of the lamps in the front of the 140s series comes to the fore. Both basic forms can be found to the 200 series inside (Volvo 240, Volvo 260 ), the "shoulder" in the new models, for example, the Volvo V70 has been taken up again.
Has been a hot topic for the estate version of the Volvo P1800, which goes back to two designs Wilsgaards from the year 1967: a conservative cut " phaeton " and a very stylish " Rocket". Both designs are characterized by a long tail combined with continuous side window. Built ultimately was the cheaper " hunting car ", which was perceived by the public as impressive, but rather strange and crazy. Strangely enough, ran the car for a prestigious achievement that showed Volvo back in the premium segment, where one had been home before the Second World War. This " IT" variant called the P1800, better known as " Snow White's Coffin ", despite only two years of production, with 8077 units a sales success. The type was due to new safety regulations in the U.S. - the main market of P1800 - set. After Volvo had given the ending of production known to the rest of the production was sold out within a few weeks.
The Volvo design of the 1970s and 1980s has often been criticized as being too square to rectangular. Critics created the term " boxiness ", which was soon used as a synonym for Volvo design. Happy one called Volvos as " swedish bricks" ( " Swedish bricks "). But this " boxiness " created something of a virtual design icon, by the way, the taste of one of the most important markets of the U.S., completely corresponded. Finally, the edgy, solid and solid-looking vehicle design radiates an important value of the brand: safety.
How did the brick? For functionality and simplicity Wilsgaard always stood in the foreground: " The Functional is often the Beautiful. It follows the laws of nature and does not make things more complicated than they really are. Functional and reasonable solutions are often the most attractive. " (Jan Wilsgaard ) These principles are also reflected in the 700 series and 900 series, there especially on the wagon. The much-criticized right angle and the almost vertical sloping rear ensured a load volume, which is unparalleled to this day.
But Volvo's design was never exclusively the result of Wilsgaards designs alone. Volvo spoke design departments at three locations and insisted that international trends that were with the basic design line, in line, were taken up. Thus, the company was able to offer its vehicles anywhere in the world in the same design - and also successfully sell.
1991 Wilsgaard was replaced by Peter Horbury British.
Swell
- Vehicle designer
- Volvo
- Norwegian
- Born in 1930
- Man