Women in design - the long struggle for equal rights up to the present day
There were and are indeed women designers of furniture, industrial products and architecture. Women have contributed to the development of modern design, but their work has rarely been appreciated. Often, the women in the history of design have been completely ignored - their partners or husbands often took credit for the designers' success.
1920s: Bauhaus women wrote design history
With the Weimar Republic, women were given the right to vote and the freedom to teach. When architect Walter Gropius founded the State Bauhaus in Weimar in 1919, the program still stated, "Every blameless person is accepted as an apprentice without regard to age or sex..." Gropius, however, feared for the school's reputation and pushed women into weaving. Since hand weaving was classified as an applied art, it was the only Bauhaus workshop that could be led by a woman - Gunta (Adelgunde) Stölzl (1897-1983). The subject was taken up in the ARD film "Lotte am Bauhaus", which shows the life of Lotte Brendel, who broke with convention to work at the Bauhaus. Today, people tend to associate the successful men, such as Mart Stam, Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with the Bauhaus.
Until 1939: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 -1969) left his mark on modernist architecture. In 1926, the architect was appointed vice president of the DWB (Deutscher Werkbund) and a year later coordinated the Werkbund exhibition "The Dwelling" in Stuttgart's Weißenhofsiedlung. Another part of the exhibition showed modern home furnishings under the direction of interior designer Lilly Reich (1885-1947), who was also the first woman to be involved in the board of the Deutscher Werkbund. Because of the great success of the Stuttgart exhibition, van der Rohe and Reich were entrusted with the artistic direction of the World's Fair for Germany in Barcelona in 1929. The resulting Barcelona Pavilion became the magnet of the World's Fair and is considered a major structure of modern architecture. The Barcelona chair (MR90), with its crossed steel base and elegant leather upholstery, is an icon of modernism. It is not associated with the Reich name, although the authorship is not clear. The chair is reminiscent of the chariot chair in ancient Rome, which was considered a status symbol of the ruling class. The lost original was made specifically for the Spanish royal couple. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe emigrated to the United States in 1938, his partner followed him a year later, but returned to Germany. You can get the Barcelona Chair with the matching stool in your pro office store.
1950s: Charles and Ray Eames
Things were much more equal in the Eames house - many of the designs of the 1950s can be traced back to the American couple Charles and Ray Eames and bear the names of both designers. However, the man is named first. What part Ray played in their joint work is not clear - presumably she was the artist and he the technician. Ray Kaiser (1912-1988) was a student of Charles Eames before she became his second wife. The couple probably became close during the "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" competition at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York. Together they experimented with plastic and different seat frames - the result was plastic and fiberglass chairs that still look modern today. The so-called "Eiffel Tower Frame" also became famous. Legendary is the Eames Lounge Chair, which was born from the idea of a soft baseball glove. For the modern office, the Eames couple developed the Eames Desk and the shelves Eames Storage Unit ESU in the best Midcentury design.
Women and the wild 1970s: designers and works made of plastic.
The Componibili was created as early as 1969 and is one of the well-known furniture of the Kartell company. Anna Castelli Ferrieri (1920-2006) created the design classic with and without wheels, which is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Ferrieri (1920-2006) studied architecture at the Milan Polytechnic. Her husband, chemist Giulio Castelli, had already founded Kartell in 1949, which became a world leader in plastic furniture. The Componibili is now also made by Kartell from biomaterial and is available as Kartell Componibili Bio in the pro office store. More of a chance hit was the Vitra Uten.Silo by Dorothee Becker, which struck a chord in 1970. Dorothee Becker (*1938) had designed a plastic organizer for her children, which caused a sensation at the Frankfurt trade fair in 1969. Other Becker products were less successful, so Becker decided to start a business in everyday design, which she ran successfully in Munich until 1989.
Exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum: "Here We Are! Women in Design 1900 - today"
With the exhibition "Here We Are! Women in Design 1900 - Today", the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein aims to bring the history of women designers to the public and to show a development. The exhibition honors the female designers of the last 120 years and tells a new design story. Works by 80 women artists will be presented, including representatives of the so-called Modernism to the contemporary art of Hella Jongerius. The exhibition shows the creative work and working conditions of women artists - starting from Eileen Gray to the present. Eileen Gray developed, among other things, the legendary side table Adjustable Table E 1027. Hella Jongerius manages the color management of Vitra and designs furniture in her own studio - in the pro office store you can get the Vitra Polder Sofa in exquisite color combinations. The exhibition organizers promise to "show modern design in a new light." The designer's job description emerged at the same time that women were campaigning for more political participation. Women's emancipation efforts were reflected in design, according to curator Viviane Stappmanns. The exhibition is sponsored by the Kulturstiftungen der Länder and other sponsors and is expected to last until March 6, 2022.
