Deutscher Werkbund at Museum der Dinge,
Matches from the 60’s
The Werkbund was founded in 1907 in Germany. A movement for industrial design. Hermann Muthesius who, influenced by the British Arts & Crafts movement,
set up the Deutscher Werkbund. It was explicitly aimed at bringing the highest standards of design to mass-produced output. The German Werkbund promoted its ideology on a number of fronts, examples of which are shown in the following images. Although still in existence today, the influence of the Werkbund is considerably diminished. Its history is nicely recorded in the Museum der Dinge (Museum of Things) Werkbund Archive. The collection opened its doors in 2007 and shows rarely exhibited everyday culture of the 20th century in glass display cases, ordered in categories. Nice and neat.
Gold medal XI : Triennale di Milano 1957
Arzberg 2025 by Heinrich Löffelhardt, 1957
Porcelain manufacturer Arzberg
Frankfurter Küche by Viennese architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, 1926
Cupboard with aluminum containers for dry foodstuffs
Usual size of a Frankfurter Küche
See previous story about the Frankfurter Küche here
Werkbund brand ‘Juwel’
Werkbund brand ‘Dreiring Seife’, 1920
Various stamps from Werkbund brands like ‘Manoli’ (German cigarette factory, 1894), ‘AEG’ (German General electricity company, 1883) and ‘Kaiser Brikett’
Decor brutalism vs. inappropriate jewelery motifs
Department of Aesthetic Aberrations: “If we want to discern what good taste is, we must first eliminate bad taste.” Gustav E.Pazaurek, 1912, about the consequences of industrial manufacturing and cheap substitutes supplanted precious materials
Cheap ‘avantgarde artistic style’ household ceramics with sprayed-on decoration from 1925 that were called ‘Communist crockery’ by Nazis from 1935
Electric water boiler by Peter Behrens for AEG, 1909
Schüssel-Fest-Halter by Heco
A device that holds your bowl attached to your table
Objects in the shape of body parts
Radio designed by Dieter Rams for Braun
‘Silent servants’
Blender & alarm clock by Dieter Rams for Braun
‘Silent servants’
Exhibition view & compartment design by Henry van de Velde for the Belgian national railway, early 30’s – shaping public space
Thanks to Jens-Ole Rey for the extended guided tour!
