The Grassimesse smow-Designpreis – Don’t miss out like Reich, Wagenfeld, László, Brandt et al

Although the Grassimesse has been staged, with readily understandable pauses, since 1920, the Grassimesse smow-Designpreis is being staged for the first time in 2023.

Which means a highly impressive roster of innovative, intelligent, imaginative, informative, designers from back in the day can’t win it. Have, if one so will, missed out

But you can win it and the associated €2,500.

Or can if your reading this before Friday May 12th Sunday May 21st, the new extended, deadline for entries.

Otherwise you’ve also missed out.

You’ve now missed out.

Putting you in an illustrious, if very unfortunate, group along with the likes of…….

A selection of works that did, or could have, appeared at the Grassimesse between 1920 and 1941, and could have won the smow-Designpreis, had it existed…….

……(remaining firmly in the years 1920-1941, and in alphabetical order)

Marianne Brandt: While Brandt almost certainly featured at the Grassimesse¹ in context of Bauhaus Dessau’s, and possibly also Bauhaus Weimar’s, numerous participations, she definitely participated around 1930 in context of her all too brief tenure as Head of the Consumer Product Development Department, i.e. Head Designer, for Gotha based metal goods manufacturer Ruppelwerk. A relatively short episode in Brandt’s turbulent biography, but a truly joyous one that not only saw Brandt transform and revitalise the Ruppelwerk portfolio, drag into the 20th century, but saw her realise a myriad interesting and informative works that help underscore not only her expression of the contemporary discourses on our objects of daily use and relationships with them, but also underscore the infinite talent that Brandt is and was. But that was then, there was no smow-Designpreis then, so sorry Marianne, for much as you would have been in with a very good chance of winning…… you’ve sadly missed out.

Erich Dieckmann: While, as with Marianne Brandt, it is possible, almost certain, that Erich Dieckmann participated at the Grassimesse in context of his time at Bauhaus Weimar, and that he may also, but possibly may not, have participated in context of his very, very, brief tenure at the Kunstgewerbeschule Burg Giebichenstein, Halle, he almost certainly did participate in the early 1930s in context of his time at the Staatliche Bauhochschule Weimar, that Bauhaus Weimar successor institute, via their commercial platform Weimar Bau- und Wohnungskunst, who were present in 1930 and 1931 with, amongst other works, Typenmöbel, programme furniture, which was Dieckmann, was one of Dieckmann’s primary projects at the Bauhochschule. And was also Dieckmann’s, not unimportant, contribution to the Typenmöbel discourses of the 1920s and 30s, discourses undertaken in context of seeking to develop future orientated contemporary furniture solutions and approaches, and just one of Dieckmann’s many interesting and important contributions to the (hi)story of furniture design. But that was then, there was no smow-Designpreis then, so sorry Erich, for much as you would have been in with a very good chance of winning…… you’ve sadly missed out.

Lydia Driesch: Although decorated gingerbread, and other decorated bakery products, have, arguably been realised for centuries in near all cultures and communities, it was in context of the 1934 Grassimesse that such became a Kunsthandwerk, an artistic craft. Specifically through Lydia Driesch and her Werkstatt für künstlerische Formhonigkuchen, Workshop for Artistic Gingerbread. No honest. Born in 1895 in Friedrichsdorf, near Frankfurt, Driesch enrolled in Bauhaus Weimar in 1920, studying in the Ceramics Workshop in Dornburg under the tutorship of Gerhard Marcks, before a series of personal tragedies saw her living as single mother with her parents back in Friedrichsdorf. And where via various paths Driesch sought as best she could to make a living, paths which eventually led to gingerbread which Driesch baked in a wide variety of forms, primarily animals and humans, and which she gaily and colourfully decorated with sugars of a myriad hues, obtaining copyright protection for many of her forms and designs. And brightly decorated formed gingerbreads that Lydia Driesch presented and sold at the Grassimesse from 1934 until its forced hiatus in 1941. But that was then, there was no smow-Designpreis then, so sorry Lydia, for much as you would have been in with a very good chance of winning…… you’ve sadly missed out.

Josef Frank: For all the Frank is closely associated with Stockholm based Svenskt Tenn and his important contribution to post-war interior design in Sweden, in many regards his pre-War works in his native Vienna are arguably the more interesting part of his expansive and varied oeuvre; for all the the furniture designs he realised in cooperation with Oskar Wlach in context of their Haus & Garten enterprise and his varied and various furniture, interior design and architectural contributions to the many social, Modernist, orientated housing programmes of 1920s and 1930s Vienna. And while Josef Frank presented solo at the inaugural Grassimesse in 1920, and that at an interesting phase in his development, just before he became formally involved with contemporary social housing issues and problems, one would assume that he also presented as part of the Österreichischer Werkbund’s many ventures to the Grassimesse before they, effectively, disbanded in 1934; Frank being as he was a leading and influential member of that Werkbund, and his 1934 emigration to Sweden a key factor in the disbanding. But that was then, there was no smow-Designpreis then, so sorry Josef, for much as you would have been in with a very good chance of winning…… you’ve sadly missed out.

Rudi Högner: Although primarily known today for his role as an educator, not least in context of his time at first the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden and laterally the Kunsthochschule Weißensee, Berlin (Ost), a career as an educator spanning some 25 years and that saw Högner play an important role in the early development of designers such as, and amongst many, many others, Karl Clauss Dietel, Christa Petroff-Bohne, Lutz Rudolph or Margarete Jahny, Rudi Högner was also active as an industrial designer in his own right, realising works across a range of genres, if primarily capital and consumer goods, and primarily electronic goods, but also designing the East German Mark and Pfennig coins that were in circulation from the late 1950s until 1989. The smow-Designpreis winner receives around 1,300 DDR Mark, since you didn’t ask. And he also made an appearance at the 1927 Grassimesse, while still a student at the Kunstgewerbeschule Dresden, with examples of the carpentry and woodwork that defined his early years. But that was then, there was no smow-Designpreis then, so sorry Rudi, for much as you would have been in with a very good chance of winning…… you’ve sadly missed out.

Paul László: Born in 1900 into a, by all accounts, long established family of furniture manufacturers, Paul László trained as an architect in Vienna, Paris and Berlin and achieved his first successes in Stuttgart before being forced to flee from the NSDAP. Arriving in the USA in 1936 László established his architecture and interior design practice in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, and in which context he also designed innumerable furniture objects, albeit as one offs. A situation that changed in 1948 when László, alongside George Nelson, Charles Eames [sic] and Isamu Noguchi, featured in the first Hermann Miller collection under Nelson’s direction; specifically with an upholstered armchair and sofa and a large round coffee table with a plant pot in the middle. A cooperation with Hermann Miller that while it was but short lived, was the start of a great many commercial furniture projects undertaken by László in the second half of the 20th century, commercial furniture projects which saw him contribute, in his own manner, to mid-century American design. And commercial furniture projects that, one can argue, began with his presenting furniture, and offering it for sale, at the very first Grassimesse in 1920. But that was then, there was no smow-Designpreis then, so sorry Paul, for much as you would have been in with a very good chance of winning…… you’ve sadly missed out.

Else Mögelin: One of the earliest Bauhäusler Else Mögelin spent some four years studying in the Bauhaus Weimar ceramics and weaving workshops before leaving Weimar in 1923 to establish her own weaving workshop as part of the Gildenhall artistic/craft cooperative near Neuruppin, to the north of Berlin, one of those very interesting but all too infrequently discussed alternative positions, institutions, to Bauhaus that are every bit a component of early 20th century design in Europe as Bauhaus, and certainly every bit as interesting and informative. In Gildenhall Mögelin produced a wide variety of works including stuffed animals which we don’t know if she presented in Leipzig and handwoven textiles which we know she did; handwoven textiles including not just the rugs for which Mögelin is so well known, but also curtains, silks and clothing, that latter designed by one Anne Lise Doormann. And hand woven textiles that were a big thing at the early Grassimessen as alternatives to the contemporary machine textiles and thus part of the lively debates of the period concerning what constituted meaningful, future orientated goods and production systems. But that was then, there was no smow-Designpreis then, so sorry Else, for much as you would have been in with a very good chance of winning…… you’ve sadly missed out.

Lilly Reich: Although best known for her furniture and interior design work Reich’s oeuvre was so much more, and also encompassed clothing design; clothing that Reich began to design during the Great War years, clothing design that Lilly Reich, primarily, arrived at through her many roles in the Deutsche Werkbund, clothing design that in Reich’s approach with its focus on craft, handwork and its close links to traditional standards helps one appreciate the Arts and Crafts positions of Reich’s early carear, and clothing which in its rejection of fashion in favour of functionality can very much be considered a component of discussions of the day as to what constituted “good” and “meaningful” in terms of not just clothing but all consumer goods. Discussions that a century later are still ongoing, and to which Reich’s clothing can still contribute. And clothing represented primarily by dresses, blouses and lingerie, Lilly Reich presented at numerous Grassimessen between 1923 and 1926. But that was then, there was no smow-Designpreis then, so sorry Lilly, for much as you would have been in with a very good chance of winning…… you’ve sadly missed out.

Mart Stam: While we can’t confirm that Mart Stam ever presented at the Grassimesse, we do know that in 1931 Deutsche Stahlmöbel a.k.a DESTA did. Which could, possibly, lead to Stam. Established by Anton Lorenz in 1929, in the middle of that out of control period when Lorenz, Stam, Breuer, Thonet and a great many others, were, more or less simultaneously, suing one another while cooperating with one another in the battle to achieve primacy in the steel tube cantilever market — wild, wild, times — DESTA carried a portfolio of steel tube works by the likes of, for example, Hans Luckhardt, Erich Mendelsohn, Anton Lorenz and in the form of the ST 12 cantilever from 1929, that work which, in effect, led to Mart Stam being awarded the artistic copyright to the quadratic, cubic, cantilever, possibly Stam. Possibly. For while the ST 12 is definitely a development of Stam’s W 1 presented at the 1927 Weissenhofsiedlung exhibtion in Stuttgart, there is no explicit confirmation that Stam was involved in its development. But he may very well have been. As indeed may have Marcel Breuer. But without Stam the ST 12 wouldn’t have existed. Thus one can consider the ST 12 as Stam’s. And an ST 12 which, one must assume, would have been a key component of DESTA’s presentation at the 1931 Grassimesse. DESTA’s only appearance in Leipzig. In 1932 Lorenz sold DESTA to Thonet, and the cubic cantilever carousel continued its merry jaunt. But that was then, there was no smow-Designpreis then, so sorry Mart, for much as you would have been in with a very good chance of winning…… you’ve sadly missed out.

Elisabeth von Baczko: Born in 1868 in Mainz and, primarily, active in Bremen and Berlin, Elisabeth von Baczko was part of the first wave of professional furniture designers as we understand the term, and the profession, today, a furniture and interior designer whose career offers many interesting and informative insights into those early days of professional furniture design, a furniture and interior designer very much in context of the reformist ideals in terms of materials and forms of the period, a furniture and interior designer very much in context of the increased appreciations of the need for more hygienic interiors stimulated by the ever greater understandings of disease and its spread that were being formulated at that period. And a furniture and interior designer who enjoyed a good degree of visibility in the contemporary Germany through her designs, her commissions and her appearances at important exhibitions; including in 1920 at the first ever Grassimesse where she presented, and possibly sold, examples of her furniture and furnishings. But that was then, there was no smow-Designpreis then, so sorry Elisabeth, for much as you would have been in with a very good chance of winning…… you’ve sadly missed out.

Wilhelm Wagenfeld: While, as with Marianne Brandt it is possible, almost certain, that Wilhelm Wagenfeld participated at the Grassimesse in context of his time at Bauhaus Weimar, not least with that lamp, and that as with Erich Dieckmann he almost certainly participated in context of his time at the successor Staatliche Bauhochschule Weimar where he also designed lamps, and without question participated in context of his time at Vereinigte Lausitzer Glaswerke, including with that stackable Kubus storage system, Wagenfeld definitely, definitely, did participate in the early 1930s with jewellery created for the Schwäbisch-Gmund based manufacturer Ottmar Zieher, a little known episode in the Wagenfeld biography and one that occurred parallel to his much better known, and much more commercially successful, cooperation with the Jena based glassworks Schott & Gen. But for all its lack of apparent commercial success, or a contemporary echo, is an episode in the Wagenfeld biography, with a genre he had first concerned himself with during his pre-Bauhaus silversmith training at the Zeichenakademie Hanau but which Ottmar Zieher produced industrially, that allows access to some very nice considerations on not only Wilhelm Wagenfeld but also on positions to machine and craft production in the 1920s . But that was then, there was no smow-Designpreis then, so sorry Wilhelm, for much as you would have been in with a very good chance of winning…… you’ve sadly missed out.

We could go on, we really could, and really really want, but we will stop…….

Because you need to get your entries in.

Not just in order to add your name those of the above designers, and the great many others that limits of time and space prevent us from naming, and in order to stake your place in the (hi)story of the Grassimesse, but to avoid missing out, as they all have, on your chance to win the smow-Designpreis, and the associated €2,500.

Applications for admission to the 2023 Grassimesse can submitted by individuals, groups or companies until Sunday May 21st 2023 via www.grassimesse.de

Good Luck!!!!

1. As previously stated, Grassimesse is a contemporary term, and not that by which the pre-War events were known. However, in the interests of clarity and readability we use it for all editions regardless of what their actual title was.