Classic Contemporary Design

Designers
Eileen Gray, 1878 – 1976
Authorised by The World Licence Holder Aram Designs Ltd., London
From an aristocratic Irish-Scottish background, Eileen Gray studied architecture
and design in London and Paris. She fi rst made a name for herself as a leading
designer of lacquered walls and decorative panels. Later, with her theories
on design and architecture, she left an indelible mark on our ideas about living.
Thirty years after her death, she is still regarded as the epitome of the Modern
and she is the only woman whose name is spoken in the same breath as
those of Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer. Gray’s tubular
steel furniture, revolutionary in its day, is now regarded as a classic. The high
point of her career was her appointment to the Royal Society of Art in
London in 1972 as Royal Designer to Industry. The Museum of Modern Art
in New York added her legendary Adjustable Table E 1027 to its permanent
design collection in 1978.
In the 1970s Eileen Gray began working with Zeev Aram to put her furniture
and lamps into series production. In 1975 she granted the worldwide rights to
manufacture and distribute her designs to Aram Designs Ltd., London.
Adjustable Table E 1027, Aixia, Bar Stool No.1, Bar Stool No. 2, Bibendum, Blue Marine/rug,
Bonaparte, Bonaparte/rug, Brick Screen, Castellar/mirror, Castellar/rug, Day Bed, De Stijl,
Double X, Folding Screen, Jean, Kilkenny/rug, Lota, Lou Perou, Menton, Monte Carlo,
Non Conformist, Occasional Table, Pailla, Petite Coiffeuse, Rivoli, Roattino, Roquebrune,
Roquebrune/rug, St. Tropez/rug, Tube Light, Wendingen/rug
To read about other designers working for ClassiCon,
go to www.classicon.com.
classic
Otto Blümel, 1881 – 1973
Born in Augsburg, Otto Blümel studied architecture at the Technical University
of Munich and then took up painting. From 1907 to 1914 he was director
of the design department at the United Workshops for Art in Craftsmanship
in Munich, a pioneering force in the interior design and decoration of the era.
Otto Blümel’s most famous design is the Nymphenburg Coat Rack of 1908,
which has been preserved in the archives of the United Workshops. Blümel
was named an honorary citizen of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and
awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Nymphenburg
Eckart Muthesius, 1904 – 1989
Following studies at the Associated State School for Applied Arts in Berlin
and the London Polytechnic, Eckart Muthesius became a master student
in the studio of his father, Hermann Eckart Muthesius, the founder of the
German Werkbund. In 1929, Eckart Muthesius met Prince Yeshwant Rao
Holkar Bahadur in Oxford, the later Maharajah of Indore, who commissioned
him to build and furnish his palace “Manik Bagh”. Completed four years
later, the palace was a masterpiece of the Art Deco style. Eckart Muthesius
complemented his architecture with his own furniture and lamp designs.
He went on to take up a post as head of the Board of Planning and Restoration
of the State of Indore from 1936 to1939. When the war broke out,
he was forced to fl ee India and returned to Berlin, where he worked as a
freelance architect.
Banu, Mandu, Satish, Usha
Konstantin Grcic, 1965
Konstantin Grcic was born in 1965 in Munich. Following training as cabinetmaker
at Parnham College in England, he studied design at the Royal College
of Art in London from 1988 to 1990. Since setting up his own design studio in
Munich in 1991, he has developed furniture, products and lighting for brands
such as Authentics, Driade, Flos, Iittala, Magis, Moormann, Moroso, Muji,
Plank, Nespresso and Vitra, and indeed many of his products have won
international design awards.
His Mayday lamp, produced by Flos, was added to the permanent collection
of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and won the prestigious Compasso
d’Oro in 2001, as did his design Myto in 2011. Since 2007 Konstantin Grcic
has been named Designer of the Year several times by various institutions.
His book “KGID Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design” was published by Phaidon
in 2006.
Chaos, Diana, Mars, Odin, Orcus, Pallas, Venus
Edward Barber und Jay Osgerby, 1969
This duo met while studying at the Royal College of Art in London and
started collaborating during their studies. They founded their E. Barber +
J. Osgerby design studio in 1996, and their fi rst piece, “Loop Table”, was
shown in 1998 in Milan by Cappellini. This initial design and the later “Flight
Stool” are today part of the permanent collections of both the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
E. Barber + J. Osgerby create pieces for the collections of companies
including Magis, Authentics, Cappellini, Venini and Isokon Plus. In addition
to receiving numerable international honours for their work, they were
nominated for the Compasso d’Oro in 2004 and named Designers of the
Year by Blueprint magazine in 2005.
Paris, Saturn
For Use, 1973, 1968, 1971
The three designers making up the For Use trio come from widely divergent
backgrounds: Sven Jonke was born in 1973 in Bremen, Christoph Katzler
in 1968 in Vienna and Nikola Radeljkovic in 1971 in Zagreb. Nikola Radeljkovic
and Sven Jonke studied design at the University of Architecture in Zagreb,
while Christoph Katzler received his degree from the University of Applied
Arts in Vienna. In 1998 the three joined forces under the name “For Use”.
Their interdisciplinary approach encompasses the fi elds of architecture,
industrial design, lighting, furniture and street furniture. Besides ClassiCon,
their clients include Cappellini, Magis and Zanotta.
Satyr, Satyr Armrest, Satyr II, Satyr II Armrest, Satyr Stool
Herbert H. Schultes, 1938
Born in 1938 in Freiburg, Herbert H. Schultes completed engineering and
design studies in Munich. From 1985 to 2000 he was chief designer in
charge of worldwide industrial and corporate design for Siemens AG – fi rst
as managing director of Siemens Design und Messe GmbH and then of its
later incarnation, designafairs GmbH. He opened his own design studio in
2000 in Inning am Ammersee. As a leading member of many academies
and institutions, he has made a lasting contribution to promoting German
design. His dedication was recognised in 2001 when he received the
Federal Design Promotion Award and also the Cross of the Order of Merit
of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Orbis/table lamp, Orbis/fl oor lamp
Christoph Böninger, 1957
Christoph Böninger studied industrial design in Munich and Los Angeles.
As his dissertation project, he designed the world’s fi rst laptop computer, on
display today at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. Following his studies,
he set up a design department for Siemens in the USA and worked as a
design manager and managing director at Siemens until 2006. In 2010, he
founded Auerberg, an author label for designers and architects. Böninger
has designed numerous pieces of furniture, some of which are today in
the permanent collections of design museums, for example the heightadjustable
“SAX” table for ClassiCon.
Zelos
Clemens Weisshaar, 1977
Clemens Weisshaar was born in 1977 in Munich. Following an apprenticeship
as a metal worker, he studied product design at Central Saint Martins College
of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art in London. After two years
as the assistant to Konstantin Grcic, he founded his own studio in 2000. He
advises Rem Koolhaas’ research fi rm AMO in industrial design issues and
works on projects ranging from strategic consulting to exhibition architecture
to product design. Weisshaar lives and works in Munich and Stockholm.
Works by Kram/Weisshaar are part of the permanent collections of the Vitra
Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, the Neue Sammlung in Munich, and the
Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Triton
Sauerbruch Hutton, Louisa Hutton 1957, Matthias Sauerbruch 1955
Louisa Hutton and Matthias Sauerbruch studied at the Architectural Association
of London. From 1995 to 2007 Matthias Sauerbruch held professorships at
the Technical University of Berlin and the State Academy of Art and Design,
Stuttgart. Both have been teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Design
since 2007. Louisa Hutton and Matthias Sauerbruch have developed a
signature architectural language that has brought the Sauerbruch Hutton
studio international recognition since its founding in 1989. A holistic approach
to planning, from urban development all the way down to furniture design,
merges functionality with exacting architectural demands, sensuality with
environmental sustainability. Sauerbruch Hutton’s projects, among them the
Federal Environmental Agency in Dessau (2005) and the Brandhorst Museum
in Munich (2008), have been awarded numerous prizes. Their fi rst highrise,
the GSW Headquarters in Berlin (1999), became part of the architecture
collection of the MoMA in New York in 2009.
Munich Lounge Chair, Munich Sofa, Munich Coffee Table,
Munich Table, Munich Armchair, Munich Chair, Munich Stool
Sebastian Herkner, 1981
Born in 1981 in Bad Mergentheim, Sebastian Herkner studied product design
at the Offenbach University of Art and Design, already focusing during his
studies on objects and furniture that conjoin diverse cultural contexts. While
studying, he did an internship with Stella McCartney in London. Herkner
founded his own design studio in Offenbach am Main in 2006 and has done
work for manufacturers including De Vorm, nanoo and Moroso, as well as
undertaking projects in the fi elds of interior design and exhibition and museum
design. Since 2007 he has taught several courses at Offenbach University
of Art and Design as visiting lecturer. Herkner’s designs have received multiple
awards, among them the 2011 German Design Award in the Newcomer
category.
Bell Table
contemporary
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