Introduced to George Lucas in 1974 by mutual friend Hall Barwood, it’s impossible to imagine the creation of Star Wars without the contributions of Colin Cantwell, the first spaceship designer on Star Wars. In 1975 he designed the first versions of the TIE Fighter, X-Wing, landspeeder, Star Destroyer, Skyhopper and Death Star, giving shape and form to those iconic silhouettes and carving his place in the Star Wars pantheon. Two years after his passing, his wife Sierra Dall has now passed Colin’s official website into the hands of Brad Cook who takes over the day-to-day running of the site with a view to redesigning the site to be an ongoing reminder of Cantwell’s contributions to the GFFA, CE3K, 2001 and other classics of the genre.
Brad Cook and Sierra Dall, Colin Cantwell’s long-term partner, are proud to announce the launch of a revamped website dedicated to preserving the legacy of the legendary first designer of many Star Wars ships, including the X-Wing Fighter, TIE Fighter, Death Star, Star Destroyer, and others. The new website features a blog that will dive deep into various aspects of Colin’s life over the coming months, starting with his work on Star Wars. The first two blog posts introduce his Star Wars work and discuss Colin’s creation of the first version of the Millennium Falcon.
A future blog post will explain how one of Colin’s Star Destroyer concept paintings became the basis for the Cantwell-class Arrestor Cruiser. That ship appeared briefly in the movie Solo (and was meant to be featured in a scene that was deleted but is available as a bonus feature on the film’s home video editions) and played a prominent role in episode 11, “Daughter of Ferrix,” in season one of the Disney Plus series Andor.
Another future blog post will detail Colin’s extraordinary involvement in the moon landing on July 20, 1969. He worked for NASA in the 1960s and
functioned as the “HAL 9000,” as he described his role, for Walter Cronkite during the CBS News broadcast, giving the news anchor updates as the lunar lander approached the surface.
On a related note, Colin also worked with Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey, which will, of course, get a blog entry too.
In addition, the new website features the first official online shop dedicated to selling autographed and non-autographed prints of Colin’s work on Star Wars, including pre-production paintings and photos of the models he built. The autographed prints are the last ones available, given Colin’s passing on May 21, 2022.
Other future plans include a partnership with TSJ Foundation, a non-profit organization whose goal is to inspire minds, uplift spirits, and create lasting memories with their unique approach of promoting the learning of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) using immersive and interactive themed experiences.
Many of TSJ Foundation’s immersive experiences feature a Star Wars theme, and the non-profit created Galactic Visions: The Colin Cantwell Legacy, an exhibit for the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) Museum in Columbus, Ohio.
Sierra Dall, who was Colin Cantwell’s partner for the last 24 years of his life, said: “It pleases me to turn Colin’s legacy over to Brad Cook, who is doing a wonderful job of redesigning and managing the new website, as well as Eric Jacobs of TSJ Foundation, who is bringing Colin’s work to life at live events.”
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