Produktkatalog zum Download - USE

A modern take on a traditional handicraft of the blind
‘Die Imaginäre Manufaktur (DIM)’ has made it its mission to inject
a new lease of life into traditional crafts. Based on an idea by Berlin
designers Vogt + Weizenegger, disabled people manufacture designer
basketware and rattan pieces in the former Berlin institute for
the blind, which is now run by USE gGmbH.
Modern design, manufactured using traditional craft-making techniques
– this is the idea on which DIM is founded. DIM has developed at a
rapid pace since its establishment in 1998, and has become famous the
world over. It has played a significant role in improving the image of the
work performed by disabled people. Over 70 international designers
have been involved in coming up with ideas for new basketware and
rattan products. The result is items that are as attractive as they are useful,
such as the ‘Diva’, a goat hair talcum powder brush with a porcelain
base, ‘Limpo’, an eraser with a small brush attached, or ‘Beachnut’, a wicker
beach bag in the shape of a peanut. DIM products are sold mainly
in museum shops throughout Germany, as well as in New York, London
and Tokyo. But prospective customers need only travel as far as the DIM
shop in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district to discover the range of products on
offer. Brushes in the shape of the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin bear
and the television tower have proven popular here, particularly among
tourists.
high quality brooms and brushes
As well as designer pieces, the brush making workshop also manufactures
traditional products such as goat hair dusters, bottle brushes,
scrubbing brushes and industrial and household brooms. Its work also
extends to manufacturing custom-made products for various sectors
of industry, such as for a large German electricity supplier. These products,
produced according to customer requirements, are of the highest
quality. Because the bristles are inserted by hand, all of the products are
extremely long-lasting and can be re-bristled even after many years of
use.
Union Sozialer Einrichtungen (USE) gGmbH, a recognised workshop for
disabled people, took over the former institute for the blind located at
Oranienstrasse 26 in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, including the brush
making workshop, in 2005. Besides people with a visual impairment, it
also employs a large number of mentally ill people and houses weaving,
floristry, carpentry and painting workshops.