Ulm Design
The Morality of Objects
Published on 7. March 1991
Book
Hardback
287 pages
978-0-262-12147-7 (ISBN)
Description
During its brief existence from 1955 to 1968, the HfG Ulm exerted an
influence that no one could have predicted from its small size, improbable location,
or short lifespan. Originally conceived as a successor to the Bauhaus, the school
quickly abandoned that model and set out to explore the uncharted territory of
designing for mass production. Under the direction of Max Bill and Tomas Maldonado,
the school became an extraordinary laboratory of design and center of talent. More
than twenty years after its closing, Ulm is still considered the most important
European school of design since the Bauhaus.As the advocate of an objective and
socially aware design for industry, Ulm fashioned a new generation of objects,
tools, and transportation and communication systems. The Ulm style - pearl gray with
matte finish, adjustable legs, reduction of ornament to a fundamental and pure
geometry of form - is embodied in the familiar Krups and Braun product lines and
continues to define the look of today's electronic instruments.Reviewers of the
German edition of this book have compared it to Hans Wingler's book on the Bauhaus -
a definitive reference and source, containing a historical account of the school, a
descriptive compendium of objects and designs produced there, an assessment of the
school's curriculum, a profile of student life, and a roster of the faculty and
guest instructors who taught there. This list includes some of the most able and
talented people in the field of German design, among them Dieter Rams, Hans Gugelot,
and Otl Aicher. The texts by Reyner Banham, Max Bill, Kenneth Frampton, Tomas
Maldonado, and others reflect the always vigorous dialogue between theory and
practice, and are accompanied by nearly 600 illustrations.Herbert Lindinger was
Professor of Design at HfG Ulm from 1962 to 1968. He is currently Professor and
Director of the Institute for Industrial Design at Hanover University.
influence that no one could have predicted from its small size, improbable location,
or short lifespan. Originally conceived as a successor to the Bauhaus, the school
quickly abandoned that model and set out to explore the uncharted territory of
designing for mass production. Under the direction of Max Bill and Tomas Maldonado,
the school became an extraordinary laboratory of design and center of talent. More
than twenty years after its closing, Ulm is still considered the most important
European school of design since the Bauhaus.As the advocate of an objective and
socially aware design for industry, Ulm fashioned a new generation of objects,
tools, and transportation and communication systems. The Ulm style - pearl gray with
matte finish, adjustable legs, reduction of ornament to a fundamental and pure
geometry of form - is embodied in the familiar Krups and Braun product lines and
continues to define the look of today's electronic instruments.Reviewers of the
German edition of this book have compared it to Hans Wingler's book on the Bauhaus -
a definitive reference and source, containing a historical account of the school, a
descriptive compendium of objects and designs produced there, an assessment of the
school's curriculum, a profile of student life, and a roster of the faculty and
guest instructors who taught there. This list includes some of the most able and
talented people in the field of German design, among them Dieter Rams, Hans Gugelot,
and Otl Aicher. The texts by Reyner Banham, Max Bill, Kenneth Frampton, Tomas
Maldonado, and others reflect the always vigorous dialogue between theory and
practice, and are accompanied by nearly 600 illustrations.Herbert Lindinger was
Professor of Design at HfG Ulm from 1962 to 1968. He is currently Professor and
Director of the Institute for Industrial Design at Hanover University.