product designer, born 1900, died 1990

 

He was one of the first in his craft. Wilhelm Wagenfeld became famous through the lamp with transparent glass base and round white opaline glass shade that he created with Karl J. Jucker at the Bauhaus in the mid-1920s. The small, delicate table lamp looks as simple as a street lamp: a symbol for the early Germanbrand of minimalism and today a synonym for Bauhaus classic. The design product par excellence. When Wagenfeld called the best characteristic things can have their “undemanding” nature, what he meant is that objects of everyday use should beserviceable, inexpensive and at the same time attractive. The trained silversmith created a multitude of useful items that were at once ambitious and unassuming, made from glass, metal or plastic. The hallmark of all of them is their high design quality, such as his bent inkpots (for Pelikan) or the silverware series 83 (for Pott) and Form 3600 (for WMF). His days as Bauhaus student already began in the early 1920s under Lazlo Moholy-Nagy in the metal workshop, where he worked with Marianne Brandt. He later became the workshop’s director after the Bauhaus relocated to Dessau. While many Bauhaus artists were forced to leave Germany after 1933, Wagenfeld was able to carry on with his work, teaching at the Art Academy in Berlin and other institutions. For Jenaer Glass he experimented withwhat was up until then considered a cheap material – moulded glass. The fireproof covered bowls he developed towards the end of the 1930s became kitchen icons, as did the stackable Kubus glass storage containers. After the Second World War,Wagenfeld drew on his previous success and began to work for companies like Rosenthal as well as Braun. In the mid-1950s he designed a record player for the phonograph maker that was integrated into the famous compact system SK 4 andwas also part of his own portable Combi radio/ record player, whose front he provided with bevelled lines and soft edges. This device comes across as surprisingly modern even today. The pragmatic thinker achieved one of his greatest triumphs on the German dining table: with a butter dish as well as salt and pepper shakers (for WMF) he dubbed Max und Moritz.