product designer and design researcher, born 1932, lives in Ulm

 

Even today, he still recommends the “emancipation of designers from the colourful world of merchandise”. Hans “Nick” Roericht studied at the Academy of Design in Ulm in the late 1950s, where he acquired his analytical credentials. In his 1959 dissertation he developed the TC 100 stacking tableware (made today by Rosenthal), the first of its kind and an incunabula of functionalism for the table. It has been produced now for more than 40 years, a longevity that is probably attributable to the fact that it is easy to store and still looks good. Following stays in the USA, Roericht founded at the end of the 1960s the office Produktentwicklung Roericht / Designresearch, which would become one of Germany’s most successful studios for product design and design consulting and make Roericht a sought-afterman. Lufthansa, for example, enlisted him to create on-board eating utensils (1971). In the early 1970s he was appointed professor at the University of the Arts in Berlin. Within his person he synthesized the critical Ulm approach with elements of thestudent movement – a mixture that was seminal for the design upheaval of the 1980s. Concurrently with his teaching duties, Roericht worked for companies such as Lufthansa, Pirelli and Rosenthal and took on projects to “humanize the working world” or “furnish a home for the mentally handicapped”. What was probably his most intense working relationship, with Wilkhahn, began at the beginning of the 1970s. He developed chair programs for the office furniture manufacturer as well as a whole series of studies dealing with topics such as “New Conference Concepts”, “Future Wilkhahn Products” or “The Future of Sitting”. Pioneering office furniture came about almost as an afterthought. His designs for Wilkhahn include the 190conference easychair (1976) and the 840 waiting rooms chairs put together out of modular elements (1979). Finally, his examination of how people sit at the desk led to the concept of the leaning aid for more active sitting. This groundbreaking mobile furniture type would go into production some two decades later as Stitz.