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.
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In 1950 the Dutch architect and designer Mart Stam told a conference in Leipzig, "when I speak here for a group of individuals active in industry about the problem of industrial design, I do so because I believe that it is necessary for us to concern ourselves in detail with the question of industrial design, and also because I believe that through intensive work and cooperation in this field we can contribute to increasing the cultural quality of our goods."1,2 With the exhibition The Early
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Sitting unassumingly, and largely unnoticed, in the middle of Germany, the city of Gotha may have only little resonance with the majority, with the great unwashed; however, every European royal family can trace their lineage back to Gotha: most famously the English royal family through Queen Victoria's 1840 marriage to Prince Albert, but the royal houses of Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Holland, Norway, you get the idea, can all trace their lineage back to and through Gotha. Gotha and royalty ✔
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On November 1st 1512 Pope Julius II celebrated the All Saint's Day Mass in the Sistine Chapel. The first public presentation of Michelangelo's frescos, and thereby the opening of a permanent exhibition still on show today. And still attracting a public. And while permanent exhibitions are good and important, for all in allowing an overview and an introduction to a subject, it is those ever changing temporary exhibitions that, should, ideally, allow for new insights and deepening of
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László Moholy-Nagy may have given Marianne Brandt "mettle for metal", and metal may be the material with which she is most readily and popularly associated; however, as she wrote in 1922, "Ich bin ganz von Glas"..... I am entirely glass. Fragile? Transparent? Opaque? Metamorphic? Refractive? Sparkling? For its 7th edition the triennial International Marianne Brandt Contest sought projects exploring glass in all its interpretations, properties and essences; the 60 nominated projects being
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When one considers the, let's say, unique, derisive, unalluring place the Sächsisch dialect enjoys endures amongst German speakers, it could be considered unwise, foolhardy, to explore all too deeply the contributions made by creatives and industry in and from the State of Sachsen to the development of Bauhaus, to explore, if you will, Bauhaus's Sächsisch accent. With the exhibition Bauhaus_Sachsen the Grassi Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig do just that....... Bauhaus_Sachsen, Grassi
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"Sometimes one has to remind oneself that this change took place in one generation - such is the gap between the woman of today and of yesterday, between the girl of then and of now." So begins the German magazine Die Woche's 1930 article "Mädchen wollen etwas lernen", "Girls want to learn something", an article which opens Four "Bauhausmädels" and is subsequently extend by the Angermuseum Erfurt to explore not only what Gertrud Arndt, Margarete Heymann, Margaretha Reichardt and Marianne
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The winners and nominated projects from the 2016 International Marianne Brandt Contest can be viewed in an exhibition in Chemnitz. International Marianne Brandt Contest 2016 Exhibition, Chemnitz Museum of Industry Time was we couldn't write about Chemnitz without making a cynical comment, an alleged joke. Time was. These days we not only travel voluntarily, and regularly, to Chemnitz but have begun to understand aspects of the town's character, aspects which on account of our previous
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The inclusion of a sheet steel bookend amongst our photos from the Grassi Museum for Applied Arts exhibition “Art Déco: Smart, Precious, Sensual” resulted in one or the other queried look in our direction, enquiries after our health and even questions as to if all our other photos were so unusable that, in our desperation, we had been reduced to using a shot of a piece of understatedly painted bent sheet steel. No, no we replied, all was good. As were the rest of our photos. That bookend
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Since 2000 the International Marianne Brandt Contest has been searching for the Poetry of the Functional in art and design. That the triennial competition is still running doesn't mean they have yet to find it, rather underscores both the variety of interpretations inherent in the phrase and also the evolving nature of poetry, functionality and the relationship between the two: there is no definitive answer just an irregular array of contemporary, potentially fleeting, best fits. And over the
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Following the necessary disruption of their permanent exhibition to accommodate the recently ended exhibition Sensing the Future: László Moholy-Nagy, die Medien und die Künste, the Bauhaus Archiv Berlin have taken the opportunity afforded to redesign their exhibition concept. And in doing so have allowed a very welcome fresh wind to blow through their museum. Bauhaus Archiv Berlin: Sammlung Bauhaus Presented under the title Sammlung Bauhaus - The Bauhaus Collection - the new permanent
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Cold as February 2014 unquestionably was, we managed to warm ourselves with exhibitions looking at the 1920s medial representation of Bauhaus Dessau, the life and works of Marianne Brandt and the work of Berlin based designer Birgit Severin. And got all excited by some USM window fittings!
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By way of an addendum to our addendum to our "5 New Design Exhibitions for February 2014" post...... Until June 8th 2014 the Villa Esche in Chemnitz is presenting a special exhibition devoted to the artist and industrial designer Marianne Brandt. Built in 1903 by Henry van de Velde for the Chemnitz textile magnate Herbert Eugen Esche, the Villa Esche is not only a wonderful example of Henry van de Velde's approach to architecture and his understanding of his responsibilities in context of the
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Older readers will be well aware of the high esteem in which we hold the Bauhaus educated designer Marianne Brandt. And of the fact that every time we write about her we invariably end up offending half of Saxony. So. Deep breath. Fingers crossed. Here goes..... In 2013 the Chemnitz Art Society Villa Arte will be hosting the 5th International Marianne Brandt Contest. A triannual celebration of international contemporary design the 5th edition of the competition not only continues the search
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Awards ceremonies are all well and good - but much more important is the exhibition to accompany the contest. And until October 10th the Industrial Museum Chemnitz is hosting the International Marianne Brandt Contest 2010 exhibition. We had planned to write a long text - changed our mind and instead present here a few impressions of our pick of the exhibits. We can however strongly recommend the exhibition; not only for those interested in art and design - but also for all those who are open
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Although the Marianne Brandt Contest is on the surface about Marianne Brandt, the awards ceremony in Chemnitz on Friday stood very much under a different star. "Chemnitz - Stadt der Moderne"/ "Chemnitz - The Modernist City" Every single official speech rammed home the message; "Chemnitz - Stadt der Moderne" being repeated ad nauseum ad infinitum in the hope that if one said it often enough it may just come true. "I want a pony !" "I want a pony !" "I want a pony !" "I want a pony !" "I want
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When we heard that the 2010 International Marianne Brandt Contest exhibition was going to be held in the Industrial Museum, Chemnitz, our first thought was: that's a bit harsh. We know the city's fortunes haven't been the best since the end of the DDR - but to label the whole city as nothing more than a tourist attraction dedicated to artificially maintaining happier memories of times long since past.... Hardly fair. It turns out that the Industrial Museum Chemnitz is actually a Museum in
read moreChemnitz is without doubt the ugliest city in Sachsen. If not Europe. And so it is all the more surprising that the town produced one of the most gifted aestheticians of the Bauhaus generation: Marianne Brandt. A student of, amongst others, László Moholy-Nagy, Josef Albers and Wassily Kandinsky, Brandt is best known for her home accessories including ashtrays, coffee/tee services and lamps. Many of her works are part of the permanent collection at leading museums including the Museum of
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