1946 Living space is a luxury in Germany’s ruined cities.

 

1947 Interior designer Michael Bayer invents a swivel-out sofa. This kind of space-saving furniture is needed more than ever. – After a long cultural drought, people come out to exhibitions and the theatre in droves. American jazz and Boogie-Woogie provide the soundtrack for the new turning point in Germany.

 

1948 The émigré German avant-garde resumes the modernist trend in exile. With Mechanization Takes Command, Siegfried Giedion chronicles their progress, as does Nikolaus Pevsner one year later with Pioneers of Modern Design. – In the western occupation zones, the “D-Mark” revs up the economy. – The West German Constitutional Convention meets in Bonn in the auditorium of the former Teaching Academy. The later parliament building is erected in the style of “Neues Bauen”.

 

1949 Lively exhibition activities reflect the contemporary dilemma: Wie Wohnen? (How to Furnish the Home?) is one of the most frequently asked questions of the day, finding its answer in an exhibition in Stuttgart and Karlsruhe. The solution lies in lightweight, often folding multifunctional furniture pieces. – At the Cologne Furniture Fair, which now resumes for the first time since the war, heavy-set “Stilmöbel”, old-fashioned pieces in historical styles, still dominate. The Deutscher Werkbund responds with its own counter-showcase; furniture prototypes are put on display under the old familiar title Neues Wohnen. – Finally, Max Bill of Switzerland sets down the first commandment for the next design reform in his exhibition Die Gute Form, which is at heart about domestic lifestyle. The second modern period has begun. – The swivel chair S 41 is one of the first furniture pieces manufactured by Wilde + Spieth, on the initiative of architect Egon Eiermann. His designs make the company one of the main suppliers of post-war Modernism. – With the introduction of FM radio, the clumsy “standard radio set” oriented on the style of Stilmöbel makes its way into German homes. As the first major purchase by many households, it is at once a symbol of the “Economic Miracle” and of the restoration of the country. – The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic are created and become hostile siblings in the Cold War. West Berlin is now a geographic island. Although in the GDR there are some initiatives to forge a connection to the modernist style that is making inroads in the West, these can be realized only sparingly under the “social realist” dictatorship. Even Mart Stam and Marianne Brandt as executives at the new Institute of Industrial Design in East Berlin are ultimately unable to toe the Stalinist line.

 

1950 Young Philip Rosenthal is named head of advertising in the family enterprise and proceeds to mould it into the epitome of “good form” while inventing the idea of “designer as product author”. One of the firm’s
employees is the young artist Hans Theo Baumann, who made a spectacular debut with a plexiglass chair for Vitra, at the time still called Fehlbaum.

 

1951 A new generation sets the course for the future. Following the death of company founder Max Braun, his sons Erwin and Artur take over the helm of the Frankfurt phonograph firm, albeit not entirely voluntarily.
The changing of the guard proceeds in similar fashion at Rosenthal, Bofinger and Wilkhahn. Young, forward-looking entrepreneurs, who also include Heinz Röntgen, founder of Nya Nordiska, are disillusioned by the experience of war and set off on a quest for something different. Design, jazz and modern art are just the thing.

 

1952 Heinrich Löffelhardt becomes artistic director of Arzberg. 13 services bring “good form”, now also featuring the fashionable organic flow of line, to West German tables. – Archrival Rosenthal engages Wilhelm Wagenfeld, who simultaneously delivers designs to WMF and various lamp manufacturers. The amazingly productive old master, together with Hans Gugelot and Herbert Hirche, counts among the great mentors of the second new beginning in design. – In yet another completely revised edition of Die Schöne Wohnung, American and Scandinavian interiors are included for the first time.

 

1953 Instruction commences at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (Ulm Academy of Design), which views itself as successor to the Bauhaus. It likewise has a strong international focus and is just as magnetic an attraction for a young avant-garde. The students draw using the new Rapidograph ink pen from Rotring and sit on the Ulmer Hocker (Ulm Stool, 1955) in which a few of the academy’s most fundamental concepts are incorporated. It is simple as can be and astoundingly versatile. Hans Gugelot will later develop a furniture system for children based on this stool. – The Rat für Formgebung (German Design Council) is founded in Frankfurt and the Industrieforum (Industry Forum) in Hanover, two custodians of exemplary design. Both adopt an Italian invention: the design award. – The Museum of Modern Art in New York shows Thonet furniture, the first solo exhibition for an industrial enterprise.

 

1954 New building developments spring up everywhere. – Along with etiquette guides that teach people how to act properly, the number of publications that counsel reason and good taste when furnishing a new
apartment is on the rise. The invitation Wir richten eine Wohnung ein (Let’s Furnish a Home) comes from the pen of Michael Bayer. His words of wisdom make a good impression not only on readers, but also on the company Interlübke, at the time still known as Gebrüder Lübke. Senior head Leo Lübke hires the young modernist as art director, an occupation that hasn’t even been invented yet. Most people discover via radio that Germany has become world champion in football.