Wilhelm Wagenfeld

(b Bremen, 15 April 1900). German industrial designer and printmaker. He began his artistic training as an apprentice in the design office of a Bremen silverware factory (1914-18) and attended lessons in script and drawing at the local Kunstgewerbeschule (1916-19). A grant enabled him to continue his studies at the famous Zeichenakademie in Hanau (1919-22), where he received a varied training including silversmithing, engraving, design and modelling. The graphic works that he produced in 1920-23 were probably made during a short stay in Bremen and at the Worpswede artists' colony; they are mostly woodcuts and engravings with religious themes, for example Death and the Virgin (woodcut, 1921; Bremen, Focke-Mus.), motifs from everyday life and the world of work. These are mostly in a brittle style, expressing themes of destruction, hunger, pain, suffering and death. By 1923 the themes became more optimistic and were depicted with a soft voluminosity.

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Well known as a Bauhaus designer, Wagenfeld has become widely celebrated as a leading German product designer specializing in everyday products in metal and glass in the interwar and post-Second World War periods. After an apprenticeship in the Koch & Bergfeld silverware factory and studies at the Zeichenakedemie from 1919 to 1922 Wagenfeld became a student at the Bauhaus in Weimar from 1923, becoming a pupil of László Moholy-Nagy in the metal workshop where he worked with Marianne Brandt. Amongst his designs at this stage was the WG 24 ‘Bauhaus’ desk lamp (with the collaboration of K. J. Juncker) of 1924, with its distinctive functional aesthetic. He became head of the department after the Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1926. Although many Bauhaus staff and former students emigrated for political and ethical reasons Wagenfeld remained in Germany throughout the 1930s and Second World War years. During the politically turbulent 1930s he taught at the Berlin Staatliche Kunsthochschule from 1931 to 1935. In 1930 he designed a series of functional ovenproof glass casserole dishes for Jenaer Glass (Schott & Gen), a well-known German glass manufacturer that had developed heat resistant glass in the late 19th century. He also designed (in collaboration with Ladislav Sutner) an elegant glass tea service for Jenaer in 1932 (reissued in 1997 as part of the design heritage drive of many leading Modernist design manufacturers). In 1935 he was made design director at the Lausitzer Glassworks, for whom he designed the celebrated modular and neatly stacking Kubus glass storage containers of 1938. After the Second World War he designed for many well-known German manufacturers including WMF (Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik), Rosenthal, and Braun. For WMF his designs included the ubiquitous Max and Moritz salt and pepper shakers of 1953, for Rosenthal his Gloriana dinnerware also of 1953, and for Braun the Combi radio-gramophone of 1955. He established his own design consultancy in Stuttgart in 1954. Amongst the many prizes he received were the Grand Prix at the Milan Triennale of 1957 and the Gute Form (Good Form) prize organized by the Rat für Formgebung in 1969 and 1982. A museum devoted to his work has been established in Bremen, Germany, and many of his designs are held in the collections of major museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

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Wagenfeld Table Lamp WG 24, 1924

Wilhelm Wagenfeld (* April 15, 1900, Bremen, Germany — † May 28, 1990, Stuttgart, Germany) was an important German industrial designer of the 20th Century, disciple of Bauhaus. He designed glass and metal works for the Jenaer Glaswerk Schott & Gen., the Vereinigte Lausitzer Glaswerke in Weißwasser, Rosenthal, Braun GmbH and WMF. Some of his designs are still produced until these days. One of his classics is a table lamp, known as Wagenfeld Lampe, 1924, which he designed together with Karl J. Jucker. In cooperation with Charles Crodel his works found their way in exhibitions and museums. Thereto Crodel developed a patented decoration technique for the industrial mass production.

There is a school in Bremen named after him, the Wilhelm-Wagenfeld-Schule.

Wilhelm Wagenfeld's grandson Malte Wagenfeld ^[1] is senior lecturer and program director for industrial design at the RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

Bibliography

• Beate Manske, Volker Albus, Bernd Altenstein (2001). Wilhelm Wagenfeld: (1900-1990). Hatje Cantz Publishers.  (ISBN 3-7757-0886-3)

References

• 1. ^ Malte Wagenfeld

External links

• {http://www.mastersofmodernism.com/?page=Lighting&sp=tl&item=5
• http://www.mastersofmodernism.com/?page=Lighting&sp=tl&item=1
• http://www.mastersofmodernism.com/?page=Lighting&sp=tl&item=2
• http://www.mastersofmodernism.com/?page=Hardware&item=5
• Wilhelm-Wagenfeld-Foundation
• Biography at Bauhaus
• Wagenfeld at German Werkbund
• Wilhelm Wagenfeld at MoMA
• "Table Lamp MT8". Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/10025-popup.html. Retrieved 2007-11-19. 

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