In 2000 Kaniewski graduated from the School of Transportation Design at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Turin, where he was later a lecturer. He also taught at the Royal College of Art in London.
Between 1999 and 2001 the artist worked in the Pininfarina studio in Cambiano and collaborated with it in the years to follow. From 2003 he designed for Ferrari. He co-designed the cars Ferrari California, Ferrari 458 Italia, Lancia Delta, Alfa Romeo Mi.To, Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Citroen C4 Picasso, Suzuki Kizashi, and the interiors of Ferrari 458 Italia’s successor.
Fiat Bravo designed by Janusz Kaniewski, photo: courtesy of Janusz Kaniewski Design
Kaniewski was co-author of the current Fiat logo and Marlboro cigarette packs, and author of Lange ski boots collections, including the model, which Hermann Maier was wearing when he won the World Cup in 2001. In Poland, he designed the Petrol Station of the Year 2012: the Orlen station on 76 Grunwaldzka Str. in Gdańsk, a Żywiec beer glass, train seats for many European railways, three commercial vehicles for the ceramic manufacturer Koło, a lorry with a 60-metre apartment and a garage for three Ferraris for an individual customer, a camper for Adam Małysz, a DDrome musical instrument, a logo for the main sponsor of Łódź Design – the Paradyż Ceramics, as well as a poster for the Camerimage festival in 2013.
Lorry of the Koło company designed by Janusz Kaniewski, photo: courtesy of Janusz Kaniewski Design
He was a curator and co-organiser of the Gdynia Design Days festival in 2012. Kaniewski was the first member of the Association of Polish Architects, who was not an architect. He was also a member of the Programme Board of the SARP-ARCH magazine. He was in the jury of the architectural competition for a public toilet by Koło and the Arena Design competition at the Poznań International Fair. He designed a network of Pit Stop petrol stations in Ukraine. He was an adviser to the Mayor of Gdynia in matters of urban aesthetics and worked with the local government of the Capital City of Warsaw. In addition, he collaborated with the city of Turin in the organisation of the Olympic village in 2006.
Kaniewski was involved in the promotion of Made in Poland. He created a social campaign for the United Nations against the use of child labour. He was one of the characters in the film Toys, from the series Guide to the Poles produced by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute – a documentary film series presenting the phenomenon of Polish freedom and creativity to the foreign viewer using the example of rock music, fashion, toy-making, mountaineering, and voodoo in Communist Poland.
Ferrari 458 Italia and car interiors designed by Janusz Kaniewski, photo: press materials of the producer
In 2011, he took second place in the most innovative entrepreneurs in Poland ranking (according to the Forbes magazine); he was also among the fifty most creative people in Poland (according to Brief). He received a lifetime achievement award (Machina Design) in 2008; an award by the Mayor of Osaka (Japan) in 2003; a Motor Trend award (USA) in 2001; the Grand Prix at Come ti Vorrei / Quattroruote (Italy) in 1999; and an Award of Excellence at the CorelDraw Design Contest (Canada) in 1993.
In 2013, he published the book Janusz Kaniewski: Design distributed by Bosz Publishing House.
Many projects carried out by Janusz Kaniewski as part of Janusz Kaniewski Design will be presented after the sudden death of the designer. Kaniewski was working on the design of a city bus, a new brand of campers, a tram, a wagon restaurant, a collection of lamps, keys to intelligent homes, and a commercial vehicle for a Polish sports brand, among others. His designs and way of thinking will continue to be developed by the studio bearing his name.
Sources: wikipedia.org, designalive.pl, januszkaniewski.com, ed. AS, transl. Bozhana Nikolova, 11.05.2015
