#hfg ulm

[germanpostwarmodern]

The Ulm Stool, designed in 1954 at the HfG Ulm by Max Bill, Hans Gugelot, Paul Hildinger and Josef Schlecker

[iamchd-reference]

[thebirthdays]

The Birthdays Design Mondays (vs) Sundays presentation at Design Athens 4 — 20.01.2018

[germanpostwarmodern]

The Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm, Germany’s trailblazing postwar design school, and the name of Otl Aicher are inseparably connected: together with his wife Inge Aicher-Scholl and Max Bill he founded the school and had a decisive influence on it, both as teacher and rector. Aicher was a stubborn and belligerent character, a trait that eventually sealed the fate of the school: dissatisfied with the direction of the school and the growing scientification of the curriculum Aicher aired his grievances on different occasions. Especially before and after his election as rector in 1962 Aicher in two programmatic texts laid out his criticism, two texts that are also included in René Spitz’s new book „Hans G. Conrad - Otl Aicher in Ulm“, recently published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König. As the author explains, these texts follow up on a development of polarization within the faculty and between practicalists like Aicher and scientists/theorists like mathematician Horst Rittel.  This conflict surely also relates to Aicher’s understanding of the HfG as „his“ school and the strong position he held within it and whose ouster of the scientist eventually initiated the school’s closing. This former aspect of his work comes to life in Hans G. Conrad’s photographs taken between 1953 and 1957: as „student no. 1“ Conrad documented the early years of the HfG and the central role Aicher played in it, both inside and outside the classroom: Aicher with friends and colleagues, Aicher with dignitaries like Theodor Heuss or Aicher as gesticulating teacher, all of the photos demonstrate the taking nature of Otl Aicher and convey a sense of why he was such a charming primus inter pares. At the same time Conrad also documented his own projects in the Aicher seminars, beautiful works in their own right that complete the picture of Otl Aicher’s activities.

The second volume of Hans G. Conrad’s photographs of prominent protagonists at the HfG in Ulm is a historic treasure that not only shows Otl Aicher in action but also documents the school’s formative years in impressive pictures. A beautiful book and an fascinating addition to the history of a legendary school!

[germanpostwarmodern]

The so-called the Ulm Stool undoubtedly is one of the best-known designs originating from the HfG in Ulm, Germany’s most significant postwar design school. In 2021 the HfG-Archiv devoted an exhibition to the stool entitled „Der Ulmer Hocker: Idee - Ikone - Idol“, a comprehensive overview of its history, the development of its iconic status and its afterlife as a reference work up for interpretation.

As a follow-up to the exhibition its organizers Viktoria Lea Heinrich, Thomas Hensel & Martin Mäntele recently published the eponymous volume with AV Edition that further elaborates the content of the exhibition. The first and major surprise is the insight into the genesis of the stool which actually has more „fathers“ than just Max Bill who is often credited alone for its design. The idea indeed originated with Bill as a result of the chronically tight financial situation of the HfG: in order to be able to furnish the school building Bill developed a simple, durable and multifunctional stool that was easy to produce with the means and machines at hand. But before it went into production at the HfG’s carpentry, design and construction were revised based on input provided by Hans Gugelot, Paul Hildinger and Josef Schlecker, the carpentry’s and metal workshop’s heads, in order to improve ease of production.

Subsequently Thomas Hensel goes into detail about the iconisation of the stool based on the theory of art as on operating system. Hensel applies it to the design world and carves out how e.g. the feuilleton and the retailer Manufactum turned an everyday object into an icon. Concurrently the stool gained a nimbus as a HfG artifact that, as a halo effect, transfers qualities assigned to the stool on to its owner and in the sense of Bourdieu contributes to the latter’s cultural capital.

Beyond this historical & theoretical discussion of its significance the authors also include many variations and copies of the Ulm Stool, physical evidence of its continuing relevance. As a result of these multifocal perspectives on a legendary piece of furniture the book offers a historical and sociocultural analysis of the Ulmer Hocker that is both insightful & thought-provoking.

[germanpostwarmodern]

City of Ulm Pavilion at Baden-Württemberg State Trade Fair 1956 in Stuttgart, Germany, by Max Bill

[art-and-design-black-and-white]

a pavilion

AZ. 401.1 We had developed an exhibition system for Braun that allowed them to travel from trade fair to trade fair with the same elements and still adapt to different spatial conditions. We wanted to move away from the architectural stands that were nailed together from chipboard and hardboard and then incinerated after a single use. The exhibition system is still in use today, almost forty years later. Only at the Frankfurt trade fair was a permanent stand to be built, an exhibition pavilion in the outdoor area. We basically used the same elements for this as for the flexible system. A roof rests on narrow square supports. Glass all around. The partition walls are semi-transparent blinds. Less is more. Almost nothing. Everything takes a back seat in favour of the objects on display. We kept it natural; nature loves to produce an optimum with a minimum of effort. To do this, it uses more geometry and statics than material, it does without colours except for situations where it wants to set signals. – Otl Aicher

hfg ulm

Photo: freestanding pavilion of the electrical appliance manufacturer Braun on the grounds of the Frankfurt exhibition centre, 1959. Sensationally innovative at the time.

Source hfg ulm archiv

[thebirthdays]

TBD Ulm