|
Close Help |
German Design as an Experiment |
New design theories and aesthetic manifestations since the 1960s |
Schlüsselwörter:
Designgeschichte, Designtheorie, Postmoderne, Funktionalismus-Diskussion, Neues deutsches Design
History of Design, Theory of Design, Postmoderne, New German Design
Sachgruppe der DNBAbstract
This doctoral thesis interprets “German design as an experiment”. It describes and analyses various processes of development, change and discussions by which designers changed - and finally left - the known ways of functionalistic design theory. By this it is proven that the “New Design” of the 1980s was by no means a sudden eruption of anti-functionalism. Since the mid-1960s designers began to take an increasingly critical look at their own role and heritage as industrial designers. They reflected upon, criticized and finally overcame a “narrow” view of functional design, which centred on functional and practical solutions for end products. They no longer agreed with the traditional “ideal” views on design, which were formed by their industrial employers. Following their individual inquisitiveness, a new group of independent designers established itself. They started to realize their own ideas from production, free of any influence from large companies. Thus designers parted from a supposed self-contained working hypothesis which was based on the assumption that each form follows a practical function or vice versa that a perfect form results from practical functions. They rather realized that one single form always contains a variety of functions beyond practical utility by pointing out “invisible” aspects like psychological or social needs. Realizing this led to the insight that “function” is by no means a term of everlasting validity; moreover, “design” has continually to react to social changes as well as all sorts of individual needs. This doctoral thesis follows a chronological scheme dealing with three decades of German design history from the 1960s up to the beginnings of the 1990s: As an example for theoretical positions of the sixties, theories which tend to extend functional design theory are introduced. Following this, interdependencies between art and design are examined. These interdependencies demonstrate the influence of artistic developments on an increasingly tolerant comprehension of design. The second part analyses German “New Design” with characteristic designers like Andreas Brandolini or “Stiletto”, groups like “Kunstflug”, “Ginbande” or “Bellefast”, galleries like “Stilbruch”, “Lux Neonlicht”, “Weinand” or “Unikate” / “Pentagon” and even agencies like the so called “Berliner Zimmer” or Christian Borngräber´s “Designwerkstatt”. Interviews with designers of different generations document oral history. These are Günter Beltzig, who became known because of his “Floris” collection in the late 1960s; Gerd Schulz-Pilath, who founded the “Galerie Stilbruch”; Gerda Müller-Krauspe, former student at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (HfG), who made herself a name as a design theoretician and editor of the magazine “form”; Heiko Bartels and Harald Hullmann, founding members of the designer group “Kunstflug” and “Dreistädter”; Andreas Brandolini, who belonged to the design group “Bellefast”; Claudia Schneider-Esleben, who besides her own career as designer and exhibition organizer, ran the design galleries “Lux Neonlicht” and “Möbel perdu”; and finanlly, designer Herbert Jakob Weinand, who ran his own gallery.
Betreuer | Haus, Andreas; Prof. Dr. |
Gutachter | Haus, Andreas; Prof. Dr. |
Gutachter | Burkhardt, Francois; Prof. |
Upload: | 2003-01-13 |
URL of Theses: | http://edocs.tu-berlin.de/diss_udk/2001/eisele_petra.pdf |