Karl Kolbitz
Karl Kolbitz

Karl Kolbitz is a cultural producer, working across research, editing, art direction and creative consultancy. 

He is an author and editor of books on architecture, art, and design.

Divine Presence is available here: Hatje Cantz

Entryways of Milan is available here: Taschen

 

Portfolio available upon request. Please get in touch:

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”.

– 3sat 2017

This is one of those massive coffee-table books designed as tasteful gifts but it is packed with the most remarkable and beautiful examples of architectural invention

– Financial Times 2017

Sein Buch ist eine Ausnahme auf den Coffeetables, wegen seiner Liebe zum Detail und zum scheinbaren Spezialwissen. Architekten und Designer werden es als Inspirationsquelle ausschlachten (oder sollten das zumindest tun), der gewöhnliche Flaneur wird sich in Einzelheiten verlieren oder verlieben. 

– Die Welt 2017

Kolbitz nähert sich dem Phänomen, ohne den Zauber dabei auch nur annähernd zu entblößen: "Entryways of Milan - Ingressi Di Milano", heißt seine Sammlung von 144 Mailänder Hauseingängen. Einige der ausgewählten Exemplare sind überwältigend schön, andere designhistorisch spannend, alle zusammengenommen spektakulär.

– Der Spiegel 2017

The book, painstakingly researched by the German editor Karl Kolbitz, celebrates 144 spectacular entryways to Milanese residential buildings that run the gamut from quiet midcentury Modernism to all-out graphic abstraction. Kolbitz enlisted collaborators such as photographers, architects, writers and stone specialists to contribute to the book: There is an essay on indoor plants and another on ceramics as well as intimate stories from addresses dotted across the city. 

– New York Times 2017

Karl Kolbitz is a cultural producer, working across research, editing, art direction and creative consultancy. 

He is an author and editor of books on architecture, art, and design.

Divine Presence is available here: Hatje Cantz

Entryways of Milan is available here: Taschen

 

Portfolio available upon request. Please get in touch:

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”.

– 3sat 2017

This is one of those massive coffee-table books designed as tasteful gifts but it is packed with the most remarkable and beautiful examples of architectural invention

– Financial Times 2017

Sein Buch ist eine Ausnahme auf den Coffeetables, wegen seiner Liebe zum Detail und zum scheinbaren Spezialwissen. Architekten und Designer werden es als Inspirationsquelle ausschlachten (oder sollten das zumindest tun), der gewöhnliche Flaneur wird sich in Einzelheiten verlieren oder verlieben. 

– Die Welt 2017

Kolbitz nähert sich dem Phänomen, ohne den Zauber dabei auch nur annähernd zu entblößen: "Entryways of Milan - Ingressi Di Milano", heißt seine Sammlung von 144 Mailänder Hauseingängen. Einige der ausgewählten Exemplare sind überwältigend schön, andere designhistorisch spannend, alle zusammengenommen spektakulär.

– Der Spiegel 2017

The book, painstakingly researched by the German editor Karl Kolbitz, celebrates 144 spectacular entryways to Milanese residential buildings that run the gamut from quiet midcentury Modernism to all-out graphic abstraction. Kolbitz enlisted collaborators such as photographers, architects, writers and stone specialists to contribute to the book: There is an essay on indoor plants and another on ceramics as well as intimate stories from addresses dotted across the city. 

– New York Times 2017