Tradition of design

In Germany, the history of design is closely tied to the history of industrialization and social reform, when mass production and standardization changed the nature of craftsmanship. Design played a key role in the reconstruction of the country in the post-World War II years and, today, it is still seen as a key contributor to Germany's economic good heath and progressive image on the international stage.

1859 Michael Thonet's Chair No. 14 becomes the first piece of furniture to be produced over a million times, making it an early example of industrial design.

1898 The "Vereinigte Werkstaetten fuer Kunst im Handwerk" (United Workshops for Art in Craftsmanship) are founded in Munich, as well as the "Dresdner Werkstaetten fuer Handwerkskunst" (Dresden Workshops for Handicraft Art). Ten years later, the two associations merge to become the German Workshops. Members include Peter Behrens, who would be seen as the father of industrial design, and Richard Riemerschmid, who a few years later began working for the Meissen porcelain factory.

1902 Alfred Grenander founds the "Werkring," an association for progressive applied arts, against the backdrop of development of the "Lebensreform" movement (Life Reform), a bourgeois subculture based on a striving for more naturalness and a rejection of Wilhelminian traditions. Its interests range from expressive dance to nudism, natural medicine, vegetarianism and romantic rambling. The Workshops also belong to this scene and its agenda reflects similarly progressive philosophies.

1903 Peter Behrens becomes director of the School of Arts and Crafts in Dusseldorf and the same year is appointed adviser at the AEG electronics company in Berlin, where he helps develops the first corporate identity.

1907 The "Deutscher Werkbund" (German Work Federation) is established in Munich at the instigation of Hermann Muthesius. Its goal is to bring the highest standards of design to mass-produced output and to establish a partnership of product manufacturers with design professionals to improve the competitiveness of German companies in global markets. An association of artists, architects, designers, and industrialists, the Federation would become an important element in the development of industrial design.

1919 The Bauhaus school is founded in Weimar by Walter Gropius. Its minimalist style would become one of the most influential currents in Modernist architecture and modern design. Also known as the International Style, it was marked by the absence of ornamentation and by harmony between the function of an object or a building and its design.

1929 In the German Pavilion at the World Exposition in Barcelona, "Neue Sachlichkeit" (The New Objectivity) is declared the Weimar Republic's official style. Architects such as Bruno Taut, Erich Mendelsohn and Hans Poelzig are leading proponents of New Objectivity's straightforward, functionally-minded, matter-of-fact approach to construction, which became known in Germany as "Neues Bauen" (New Building).

1930 The Bauhaus wallpapers are the first products launched under the Bauhaus brand.

1935 At Lausitz Glassworks, William Wagenfeld becomes the first artist to join corporate management.

1953 As Germany witnesses a second new beginning in design, the Ulm Academy of Design is founded by Max Bill, Inge Aicher-Scholl and Otl Aicher. The design school is hailed as a successor to Bauhaus. The same year sees the founding of the German Design Council in Frankfurt.

1955 The Braun electronics company unveils a range of new devices. With its combination of functionality and technology, the brand becomes closely linked with the concept of modern industrial design. The company's most influential designer is Dieter Rams, who would play a key role in the post-war renaissance of German design. Its success helps steer the country's economic recovery and shape its new identity.

1958 The glass pavilion at the World Exposition in Brussels, designed by Egon Eiermann, showcases new German design, based on the same principles of functional minimalism that characterized Bauhaus design.

1960 The monthly magazine Schoener Wohnen (Better Homes) is published in Hamburg, a trendsetting magazine devoted to the domestic environment and interior design. It soon attracts a readership of some 2 million and establishes itself as an arbiter of taste.

1969 The first Federal Award for Good Design is awarded to Burkhard Vogtherr for a new phonograph/TC combination in four cubes.

1972 At the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany launches a campaign designed to improve its international image. The campaign is masterminded by Otl Aicher and includes logos, guideposts, uniforms, and furnishings for the athletes' accommodations in the Olympic Village.

1982 As the next "Neues Deutsches Design" (New German Design, also known as NDD) movement emerges, design and luxury become synonymous and capture the hedonistic mood of the 1980s.

1983 The Moebel Perdu Gallery in Hamburg becomes the center of NDD, ushering in an era of rebellion against traditional German domesticity. Favorite materials include stone, steel and untreated wood. Few NDD products go into series production.

1984 Post-modernism is the order of the day, and companies such as Thonet and Tecta develop products that both maintain and play with the company traditions.

1996 The digital era has dawned, and a third wave of German design gains momentum. E15 is the first German furniture manufacturer to launch in London - the decade's design hub. Stilwerk, the country's first department store for design, opens in Hamburg. The "anything goes" approach afforded by digital tools ushers in a generation of designers as disciplined as they are experimental, including Werner Aisslinger, Stefan Dietz and Tobias Grau.

2005 German kitchens designed by companies such as Bulthaup, Miele and Eggersmann are an international export success.

2007 The "Deutscher Werkbund" celebrates 100 years since its founding.

Author: Jane Paulick

Editor: Kate Bowen