Oskar Kogoj, born 23. November 1942 in Miren near Gorica, is one of Slovenia’s most recognisable industrial designers. He attended the High School of Design in Ljubljana (Industrial Design programme) and was taught by Bogomila and Marjan Pogačnik, Miloš Požar, and other former students of Plečnik. He continued his studies at the Scuola Ai Carmini Corso Superiore Di Disegno Industriale in Venice (professors G. Mazzariol, M. De Luigi, M. Bellini, and others) and in 1966 graduated in industrial design at the Istituto Statale d'Arte. Until 1969 he worked as an assistant at the Istituto Statale d'Arte and as a consultant for Baby Mark in Milan. From 1969 until 1970 he worked in Meblo Furniture's Research and Design Department in Nova Gorica. In 1971 he obtained the status of freelance designer. He was the head of the Department of Industrial Design at the International University of Florence and Venice, between 1971 and 1975.
As a student he visited France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Great Britain, the USA, Mexico, Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, India, Thailand and Japan. He has exhibited his work more than 300 times; his designs are featured in over 100 museums and permanent collections around the world. Since 1969 he has received more than 40 international awards. He is a member of several international art and design associations, such as: ADI, DOS, ICSID, BEDA, and ICOGRADA. Since 1996 he has been a member of the prestigious Circolo Artistico Veneziano. He lives and works in Miren.
What is form and who am I?
“I always have and continue to search, explore, empathize and invent, without severing myself from the world I live in. I have found some answers in antiquity, in religions and faith, in philosophy and reality; some I continue to seek. When I seek, I create – I create, because I seek. The quest for perfection, for the perfect form, is a long process of personal growth; it can be a form of meditation used to see one’s inner self, one’s inner divinity. As Aristotle and Plato said: “Man is the measure of all things! Man is creation and creation is man!” - the real human revelation is finding one’s true self and realising that we are our own creators! Form is energy, form is nature and nature is god’s creation. Art and design are an expression of the artist’s state of mind and inspiration – the artist’s work is their embodiment and thus his legacy. However, art also reflects the culture and everyday life of a nation or civilisation and expresses its inner experiences and spiritual world in physical form. Spiritual expression, artistic and technical truths, true art, and true design can only arise from a pure heart. Only when art is truly great, timeless and undying, can we speak of the ideal spirit and its material realisation – the perfect form, the truth.” Oskar Kogoj.
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