Karl Kolbitz

I work across research, editing, art direction, creative consultancy, and cultural production.

I develop storytelling and imagery for brands and institutions. My books focus on architecture, art and design. In 2023 I collaborated with the artist Sarah Ortmeyer on a permanent memorial in Vienna.

My new book Divine Presence is available from Hatje Cantz

Entryways of Milan is available from Taschen

mail@karlkolbitz.com

Imprint

His book, Entryways of Milan, was praised worldwide for focusing attention on an often-neglected architectural detail – and for being conceived, photographed, and written with unusual care for a coffee-table book. In essence, Kolbitz invented a new genre: the sumptuous coffee table book for the reading public.

– Die Welt 2021

FACCIAMO QUALCOSA DI MOLTO BELLO (PDF)

– Architectural Digest 2021

If Ponti is the holy grail of 20th-century Milanese design, Kolbitz earned the stripes to do the book through another title he produced for Taschen in 2017, Entryways of Milan, which documented the splendor and inventiveness of hundreds of Milanese lobbies, foyers, vestibules, and semi-public hallways in a city that is otherwise known to be physically and socially hermetic. The Milanese are notoriously hard to please, but with Entryways Kolbitz cracked the code, opening doors that would have otherwise remained closed, including those of the Ponti family.

– PIN-UP 2021

Gio Ponti. He was Milan’s architectural impresario numero uno. A new book presents him through fresh eyes. (PDF)

– PIN-UP 2021

Prächtiger Auftritt für einen übergroßen Architekten, dessem gewaltigem Schaffen der TASCHEN Verlag ein ebenso gewaltiges Buch gewidmet hat. Pontis letztes großes Meisterstück: die Abbilder seiner Bauten bringen sechs Kilo Papier zum Schweben. Gut, der Artdirector Karl Kolbitz, der diese Sammlung so detailreich und elegant aufbereitete, hat sicher auch etwas damit zu tun.

– Süddeutsche Zeitung 2021

There’s an irony here, that a prince of lightness such as Ponti should be remembered with something so massive, but it’s hard to do justice to his output in any other way… It successfully captures Ponti’s spirit.

– The Guardian 2021

Karl Kolbitz hat Hauseingänge und Eingangshallen in Mailand fotografieren lassen und daraus ein Buch gemacht, mit viel Liebe zum Detail: "Entryways of Milan - Ingressi di Milano”.