During the twenties applied art and design also played a decisive role in city planning in Frankfurt. A modern and social reform orientation was incorporated into planning functions from a very early stage. To alleviate the housing shortage following the First World War one summoned Ernst May to the City in 1925. As Head of the Building Department he sees his assignment as substantially more than just eliminating shortcomings. Housing construction for him is a contribution to public education, good housing conditions are conducive to satisfied people. May’s objective is to integrate human needs into architecture: affordable dwellings in large quantity and well equipped; living spaces that promote equality and community spirit. May appoints the architect and designer Ferdinand Kramer, one of the best-known representatives of the social reform oriented »New Construction«. Kramer’s furnishing of the residential estates of »New Frankfurt«in the twenties and the interior design of the university went down in the annals of architectural history, as did the famous and uniform original model of the built-in kitchen, the so-called »Frankfurter Küche« by the architect Grete Schütte-Lihotzky. Between 1925 and 1930, with a large team of employees, May designed and built seven residential estates whose innovative architecture and interior fittings aroused an international sensation. But May also intended to give the City of Frankfurt a new and future-oriented image in other design disciplines. He commissioned the graphic artist Hans Leistikow to revamp the heraldic Frankfurt eagle in the style of new objectivity. However, the radically simplified form of the new eagle inflamed passions so much that it was rapidly transfigured to a »bird of scandal« and, following a brief appearance in 1933, was soon »shot down«.
Also called to Frankfurt by Ernst May was Walter Drexel as advisor for style and publicity design. His advertising lamps and light columns for Jena had drawn May’s attention to this painter, typographer and commercial artist. In his essay of 1927 on »New Typography«, Drexel designates the avoidance of any personal touch as the maxim for objective and constructivism-based design. This is appropriate to the style of the clear and geometric principles of the typeface Futura, which Paul Renner designed parallel to his teaching activities at the Frankfurter Kunstschule. The typeface was produced by the Bauersche Giesserei as of 1928 and today it is still one of the most widely used and popular typefaces worldwide.
In the wake of the progressive period of design breakthrough followed the grim years of restoration and regressive movement in design at all levels. The attempt by the National Socialists to transform Frankfurt, with its traditions as a Jewish trading city, into the City of German Handicrafts, ultimately proved to be less successful, the buildings and fountains thereby foreseen as symbols were never realised.
Worthy of mention in this connection is the Frankfurter Modeamt (Fashion Department), founded in 1933. With the help of the »Work Study Group Fashion« of the Staedelschule this innovation was intended to supply the clothing industry with »German fashions«. The original aim of the Modeamt was to turn Frankfurt into the »City of German Fashions«. The designs, however, never went into series production.
What is Design? Otl Aicher once termed it the »World as a Draft«. A draft that attempts to solve problems of utmost complexity. In the structure and design of content and form not only is appearance cultivated, but also use. The choice between functionalism, fashion as end in itself and bizarre diversity becomes a decision with far-reaching consequences. Because design differentiates and bestows identity.
Humankind has always strived to also design its environment according to aesthetic principles. With the proliferating industrialization in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, however, the perception of design and applied art has undergone sweeping changes. Design as a master plan for new problem areas moves ever closer into our awareness.
Presenting all design forms of expression in one comprehensive project was the goal of the artists who joined together in 1899 on the Mathildenhöhe to form the Darmstädter Künstlerkolonie. The establishment of architects, sculptors and painters was previously demanded by Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig. New materials and the need for industrial methods of production called for new solutions of design, which were sought by the group around Peter Behrens and Joseph Maria Olbrich. Their objective was to achieve a fundamental reform of applied art and discard the exaggerated style of the early industrial age. Parallel to the arts and crafts movement in England and art nouveau in France, the artists belonging to the Sezession or Jugendstil strove to accomplish nothing less than a far-reaching renewal movement, in which art and life were to merge into »applied art«. Consequently they made Darmstadt a European centre for the »new style«.
Production geared to large volumes also posed new problems for Michael Thonet, chair manufacturer in Oberhessen’s Frankenberg since 1889. His solution strategy proved to be his bentwood process, with which he manufactured large volumes to his own design and marketed them worldwide. Although specifically conceived for the industrial process and enabling the first mass production of chairs, Thonet’s design also raised fundamental questions of style hand-in-hand with industrialization. Whereas the craftsmanship of individual pieces appeared more valuable and meaningful, early industrial design was faced by the necessities of mass production and was obliged to seek answers to new questions of an over-individual, industrial form.
A further quantum leap in manufacture for industrial processes was initiated at the turn of the century with the decision by Heinrich Kleyer to commence the production of motor vehicles in the Frankfurter Adlerwerke. This proved to be so successful that by 1914 one fifth of all German automobiles originated in the Frankfurt Gutleut district. With the »Adler Standard 6«, the first German series car went into production in 1927. For the design of the »Standard 8« Adler commissioned Walter Gropius, the renowned director of the Dessau Bauhaus. His input resulted in an enormous increase in awareness for Frankfurt’s automobile production. The stylish Adler logo, adorning the radiator grille of all Adler vehicles from 1930, also stemmed from his pen. In 1961 Gropius was awarded the Goethepreis, one of Frankfurt’s most outstanding awards.
During the twenties applied art and design also played a decisive role in city planning in Frankfurt. A modern and social reform orientation was incorporated into planning functions from a very early stage. To alleviate the housing shortage following the First World War one summoned Ernst May to the City in 1925. As Head of the Building Department he sees his assignment as substantially more than just eliminating shortcomings. Housing construction for him is a contribution to public education, good housing conditions are conducive to satisfied people. May’s objective is to integrate human needs into architecture: affordable dwellings in large quantity and well equipped; living spaces that promote equality and community spirit. May appoints the architect and designer Ferdinand Kramer, one of the best-known representatives of the social reform oriented »New Construction«. Kramer’s furnishing of the residential estates of »New Frankfurt«in the twenties and the interior design of the university went down in the annals of architectural history, as did the famous and uniform original model of the built-in kitchen, the so-called »Frankfurter Küche« by the architect Grete Schütte-Lihotzky. Between 1925 and 1930, with a large team of employees, May designed and built seven residential estates whose innovative architecture and interior fittings aroused an international sensation. But May also intended to give the City of Frankfurt a new and future-oriented image in other design disciplines. He commissioned the graphic artist Hans Leistikow to revamp the heraldic Frankfurt eagle in the style of new objectivity. However, the radically simplified form of the new eagle inflamed passions so much that it was rapidly transfigured to a »bird of scandal« and, following a brief appearance in 1933, was soon »shot down«.
Also called to Frankfurt by Ernst May was Walter Drexel as advisor for style and publicity design. His advertising lamps and light columns for Jena had drawn May’s attention to this painter, typographer and commercial artist. In his essay of 1927 on »New Typography«, Drexel designates the avoidance of any personal touch as the maxim for objective and constructivism-based design. This is appropriate to the style of the clear and geometric principles of the typeface Futura, which Paul Renner designed parallel to his teaching activities at the Frankfurter Kunstschule. The typeface was produced by the Bauersche Giesserei as of 1928 and today it is still one of the most widely used and popular typefaces worldwide.
In the wake of the progressive period of design breakthrough followed the grim years of restoration and regressive movement in design at all levels. The attempt by the National Socialists to transform Frankfurt, with its traditions as a Jewish trading city, into the City of German Handicrafts, ultimately proved to be less successful, the buildings and fountains thereby foreseen as symbols were never realised.
Worthy of mention in this connection is the Frankfurter Modeamt (Fashion Department), founded in 1933. With the help of the »Work Study Group Fashion« of the Staedelschule this innovation was intended to supply the clothing industry with »German fashions«. The original aim of the Modeamt was to turn Frankfurt into the »City of German Fashions«. The designs, however, never went into series production.
During the radical new beginning following war and total devastation one recalled the traditions of the early modern and the design principles of Bauhaus were taken up and further developed by the Ulmer Hochschule für Gestaltung. Developments at this college of design also influenced the work of Fritz Eichler, responsible for design with the Kronberg firm Braun AG. In cooperation with the college lecturer Hans Gugelot he set down key fundamentals for the company’s image. In 1955 his function was taken over by Dieter Rams from Wiesbaden. As architect and later product designer his designs were based on functionalism without any compromise: high serviceability, intelligent, simple design based on the needs and behaviour patterns of the user. Rams subsumed his design philosophy with the credo: »Less, but better«.
Other designers also came to the Rhine Main region, for example, the renowned graphic designer Gunter Rambow set up his studio in Frankfurt in 1968. His poster designs found worldwide admiration and won international awards. The Frankfurt designer and design critique Volker Albus is one of the outstanding representatives of new German design of the eighties. His innovative exhibition concepts and irony-evoking product designs created considerable tumult. Rambow and Albus are today teaching professors at the Karlsruhe College of Design.
In the seventies and eighties many successful design studios originated in the Rhine Main region. They were frequently set up by graduates of the design and polytechnic colleges in Offenbach, Mainz, Wiesbaden and Darmstadt. Design oriented production companies also emerged from this background. Typical for such companies founded by designers is the lighting company Rodgauer Leuchtenproduktion.
Thanks to Frankfurt’s spring and autumn trade fairs, the city has evolved into an international meeting point for designers and design oriented companies. Pan-sectoral projects in which applied art is to be placed in a cultural-social context, such as the event series »Design Horizonte« in the early nineties or the »Luminal« founded in 2002, typify the attempt to extend communication into other disciplines via design.
Whereas the region’s ongoing design scene continues its dynamic development and today covers all private and public spheres, the collection and scientific processing of the history and development of design is the classical function of museums and institutions. The Frankfurt Museum of Applied Art has an extensive design department, the Design Council, founded by a decision of the Federal Government in 1953, possesses Germany’s largest design library. As the leading national design institution it has set its objective to inform and communicate all aspects of design activities.
These and other institutions relevant for the field of design will be presented in this portal as well as exhibition dates and information pertaining to the field of design and applied art.