Hans Coray

Hans Coray (1906-1991) was a famous Swiss designer. An eclectic character, his interests and his studies were not restricted to the field of design alone, but ranged from theology to psychology, from graphology to astrology. Close to the circles of Dadaist art in Zurich, he began his first experiments in self-taught design in the 1930s, using mainly metallic materials and focusing on simple and rational forms. He is today mainly famous for his Landi Chair, designed in 1938 and considered one of the most famous creations in the history of Swiss design, exhibited in the permanent collection of MoMA in New York and now re-edited by Vitra. He continued an occasional activity as a designer even in the following two decades, and then devoted the rest of his life to the fine arts, with personal exhibitions of his sculptures in Zurich, Bern and Cologne.