[Translate to english:] Künstler, Möbel- und Produktdesigner, Schopfheim / Baden-Württemberg

 

“The essential part of a design”, he once wrote, “does not come from formulas; it is alone the result of human capabilities”, thus coming down on the side of Henry van de Velde in the e t e rnal dispute between industry and art. For Hans Theo Baumann, the creative process is the decisive factor in design. His goal has always been not the geometricization of the world, but rather a humanization of technology. One of his very first furniture designs, an organically formed plexiglass chair, was a world premiere and the first chair produced by Vitra – at the time still called Fehlbaum. The co-founder of the Verband Deutscher Industrie-Designer (Association of German Industrial Designers) was one of the figures, along with Egon Eiermann, Hans Gugelot and Herbert Hirche, who shaped post-war G e rman design, establishing a second wave of German Modernism. The initial spark was ignited by an encounter with the architect Eiermann, who put his young colleague in contact with other influential figures. He rose to fame with projects such as pioneering work for porcelain maker Rosenthal, including the cylindrical service Berlin (1959), which was followed in the next decade by perfectly shaped silverware of the same name. With his minimalist drinking glasses (for Gral-Glas) and lamps (for Vitra) he strode off down new paths, as was also the case with his services made of plastic and metal. Baumann’s astounding productivity stems from a subjective, yet explicit concept of beauty, complemented by a strict practical orientation. B o rn in Switzerland, he studied sculpture in Basel and then led a double life as artist and product designer. The results of his work were correspondingly divergent: soft shapes alternate with angular ones. In his product design, however, whether organic or linear, he is committed throughout to a radical simplicity, as can be seen for example in his successful tableware systems. Starting in the mid-1950s the prolific creative talent developed items including a series of office chairs (for Sedus Stoll), practical folding chairs (for Wilde + Spieth) and angular easychairs (for Walter Knoll) in which square and triangle communicate. All of these designs made a profoundly avant-garde impression, but in a pleasantly effortless way.