Since 2006, the Forum for Vehicle History, better known as F-kubik, has always honored a personality at the beginning of each year at the Bremen Classic Motorshow who has made a special contribution to the historical authenticity of vehicle history through their work: the "Golden Piston 2021" is awarded to Matthias Kaluza from Zwickau, exhibition designer and freelance managing director of the ö-konzept design agency.
Online survival ritual
In times of the corona pandemic, the previous handover ritual cannot take place at an in-person trade fair in Bremen. Instead, the intention is to publicly present the award on Saturday, February 6 between 3 and 8 p.m. as part of a virtual season opener at the Bremen Oldtimer and Youngtimer Fair for all connected friends of vehicle history on the BCM website. In accordance with the rules of the health authorities, the "Golden Piston 2021" will be presented in a temporary studio in a dialog and with distance as a certificate and polished engine piston. A short laudatory speech with recorded film examples is also to be expected.
Kaluza, the designer
Almost all classic car enthusiasts have already seen Matthias Kaluza and his results. His creative power can be experienced at the August Horch Museum in Zwickau, the Märklin Model Railway Adventure World, the Dresden Transport Museum, the Audi museum mobile, Augustusburg Castle and, since 2014, repeatedly at PS.Speicher in Einbeck.
Since 2004, the Zwickau native has also designed more than 25 special exhibitions on various mobility and vehicle technology topics, such as the automotive pioneer Hans Gustav Röhr, the history of racing in the GDR or the varied Opel theme "Of cadets and captains". Vivid, worth experiencing, entertaining and informative are just some of the attributes that apply to the concepts developed by Kaluza. They get under the skin, reach the senses and the soul, according to visitors.
And those who don't spend much time in museums and exhibitions might prefer to browse through a good book: Kaluza can also be found here. The graduate designer has been commissioned to work on topics such as the "History of automobile construction in Zwickau" or the Audi brand. In addition to print and online design, Kaluza also has a reputation as a speaker.
Department of Industrial Design
Born in Zwickau on July 29, 1960, Matthias Kaluza studied at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Applied Sciences for Industrial Design in Halle an der Saale after completing his A-levels and basic military service. He specialized in industrial design. During his studies, he already carried out contract-related design tasks for VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke in Zwickau, and soon after delivered his diploma thesis on a flow-optimized car body for a small car. This was followed by years as a designer at the IFA Kombinat Pkw, during which he continued to carry out extensive series of tests in the wind tunnel and presented new studies on drag-reduced car bodies.
Multitasker
As early as 1988, Kaluza became chief designer of the IFA Kombinat Pkw in Karl-Marx-Stadt, now Chemnitz. The following year, he was licensed as a freelance designer in the GDR. In the same year, he founded the company ö_konzept as a college of freelance designers in Gera. After reunification, the company headquarters were relocated and two offices were set up in Zwickau and Halle as Designatelier ö_konzept GbR.
Since then, Kaluza has dedicated himself to various areas of work, for example as an interior designer, exhibition designer, graphic and product designer and lighting designer. After working intensively on the design of rail vehicles, in particular wagons for the Trans-Siberian Railway, he founded ö_konzept, Agentur für Werbung und Kommunikation GmbH & Co KG in Zwickau as a second company in 1995. In addition to the different legal form, other areas of focus emerged, such as the development of communication design, multimedia applications and the Internet. Together with his wife Eva, an interior designer, the father of two is not only the main shareholder, but also the art director and thus the role model for 25 permanent employees, mainly designers, engineers and architects.
Focus on exhibition design
One of the highlights of his career was his work as an author on the book project "Audi Icons - Fascinating automobiles from an eventful history", where he also contributed as a photographer and designer. In the last 20 years, however, a focus has developed in the business field of complex exhibition design. Here, Kaluza was also responsible as project manager, coordinating the collaboration between historians, academics and universities. He developed concepts and didactics for exhibitions, which can be experienced particularly well in the PS_Speicher in Einbeck, whose world of experience is strongly based on the themes of "transport, motorized mobility and technology". In addition to the exhibition architecture, this also included media planning and production.
In response to demand, Kaluza and ö_konzept have been increasingly taking on tasks for social media, media and web design, programming of content management systems including graphic and screen design since 2017. Although he works everywhere, Kaluza has remained loyal to his hometown of Zwickau to this day.
Another "piston carrier"
With Matthias Kaluza, the F-kubik group has added a recognized personality from automotive and vehicle history to its circle of honorary piston owners. The individuals and institutions with this award have all contributed in their own way to the positive development of the German classic car scene. The "Golden Piston" has been awarded unanimously and independently by the F-Kubik group every year since 2006 to people who have supported and promoted the topic of "motor vehicle history" in an exemplary manner in the public eye through their work. Matthias Kaluza is the 16th award winner in this series, from which unfortunately several have already passed away.
These are:
- 2006: Günther Krön for the revival and realization of the historic drive "2000 km through Germany"
- 2007: Karl-August Almstadt for journalistic achievements as a TV presenter and publicist for autobild and autobild Klassik
- 2008: Winfried A. Seidel as initiator and operator of Veterama and the Benz Museum in Ladenburg
- 2009: Prof. Dr. Peter Kirchberg for his many years of work at the University of Dresden and his documentation of the history of the Auto Union
- 2010: Dipl.-Ing. Mag. phil. Wolfgang M. Buchta as publisher and editor-in-chief of Austro-Classic
- 2011: Karl Reese as an expert and one of the first publicists of motorcycle history
- 2012: Michael Graf Wolff Metternich as an interpreter of Maybach history and corresponding publications
- 2013: Erika Kübler for her selfless commitment to preserving the life's work of the artist and designer Louis L. Lepoix
- 2014: Ivan Mahy for his tireless efforts to make a unique vehicle collection as accessible to the public as possible
- 2015: Roger Gloor for his many years of in-depth coverage of the automotive past in Automobil Revue and auto exclusiv
- 2016: Karl Ludvigsen as manager of the automotive industry with the special skills of systematic research, processing and publication of automotive history topics
- 2017: Johannes Th. Hübner as an automotive expert, publicist and designer who is able to convey his knowledge of vehicle history to an interested public thanks to his unusual communication skills
- 2018: Heiner Rössler for his outstanding commitment to the lively presentation and documentation of vehicle history to the public and the operation of the Melle vehicle museum
- 2019: Jürgen Book as initiator of the Glasurit Classic Car Colors program, the world's largest paint database, an important contribution to the preservation of historical monuments
- 2020: Dieter Dressel, initiator and operator of the vehicle history Central Garage in Bad Homburg
