A magazine by T L 1 Dear Readers, In PNOW, Germany is celebrating ONN years of Bauhaus. And we are celebration nearly four decades of TECNOLUMEN. ORN years of tradition – brimming with stories we would like to share with you. There can be no doubt that the And one of these stories starts Wagenfeld lamp is one of these in Weimar in OWOW. Walter Gropius timeless design icons. And it founded the “Staatliche Bauhaus” certainly has been our most famous school, where art and craft are workpiece for almost RN years. uniquely combined. Interdiscipli - nary, cosmopolitan and eager to try This is our history. out new things, regardless of whether in architecture, furniture, How did TECNOLUMEN become an photography or silverware – authorised manufacturer of both Bauhaus masters and students this lamp, and who was the founder created numerous classics. of the Bremen-based company? Apart from this lamp, which other designer lamps and classics are found in our portfolio, and which philosophy does TECNOLUMEN pursue? We would like to divulge all of the above in the following pages of our magazine. The future needs both the past and the present, and there is no present without the past. We are very pleased to announce the first edition of our 4 TECNOLUMEN magazine The Bauhaus Idea TLO and wish you interesting and informative reading. 6 The TECNOLUMEN History 8 Carsten Hotzan Interview with Walter Schnepel Managing Director 12 Everything Handmade 14 Design Icon in the Light of Art 16 “Young Designers” r e n g e i l F m i h c a o J The metal version of the “Bauhaus lamp” designed by Wilhelm Wagenfeld in OWPR and manufactured at the Weimar State Bauhaus. Herbert Bayer “Such resonance can neither be achieved by organisation, Max Bill Laszlo Moholy-Nagy nor by propaganda. Only an idea possesses Marianne Brandt the power to disseminate itself to such an extent.” The essence of the Bauhaus idea was found in the comprehensive Hin Bredendieck Ludwig Mies van der Rohe education of a new generation of proficient and committed Marcel Breuer designers. This was done with the objective of revolutionising Emil Bartoschek Heinrich Brocksieper everyday life and creating a new and better world. Alma Buscher In order to achieve this, Walter Gropius developed the Bauhaus Erich Consemüller Walter Gropius (OVVQ –OWTW) Hannes Meyer (OVVW –OWSR) Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (OVVT –OWTW) teachings. The traditional form Christian Dell of academic teaching was abolished and replaced by a pluralistic Friedl Dicker-Brandeis educational concept that promoted Erich Dieckmann the individual development of creative talents and methods. The Alfred Ehrhardt r r r h academic prerequisites for e e e i t m m S ö ö r R R e t y T. Lux Feininger y admission were abolished: every l l l l l i i a W W W / / / r r r gifted young person was to be e e e m m Werner Graeff m ö ö ö R R R afforded the opportunity to study at y y y l l l l l l i i i W W W k k Emil Bert Hartwig k the Bauhaus school – regardless e e e h h h t t t o o o t t t o o o h h h of the school leaving certificate, P P P , , Josef Hartwig , B B B M M M nationality or gender. S S S , , , k k k e e e h h h t t Fritz Hesse t Bauhaus workshops were at the o o o i i i b b b l l l i i i b b b t t t s s s heart of the design training, n n n u u u K K Otto Hofmann K / / / k k k and here the areas of teaching and p p p b b Martin Jahn b practice were not considered separately. Carl Jacob Jucker As short as its existence might have been, its concept Ida Kerkovius Under the direction of László The Bauhaus school was and is so Group picture in the metal workshop at was highly versatile. The Bauhaus school, founded in OWOW, Moholy-Nagy, the “Laboratorium für multi-faceted and heterogeneous the Bauhaus school in Weimar, around OWPR. Josef Knau Front: Gerhard Vallentin, Laszlo Design“ (Laboratory for Design) that deriving a uniform style is was not merely an experimental school with a wide range Moholy-Nagy, Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Kurt Kranz produced designs such as the impossible. And this is what makes it Otto Rittweger Bauhaus lamp by Wilhelm Wagen - so interesting and topical to this Back: Marianne Brandt, Christian Dell, Emil Lange of educational opportunities in the fields of arts and crafts. feld and the tea pot by Marianne very day. The democratic idea, the Josef Knau, Max Krajewski and the arms of Hans Przyrembel Jean Leppien Brandt, which are still iconic items of demonstrative forthrightness and The idea also had an impact on the social and cultural everyday use today. modernity, as well as the timeless Adolf Meyer topicality of the “Bauhaus classics”: Wera Meyer-Waldeck spheres of life in that it united a multitude of different all serve to illustrate the social self-understanding. Thus, Gropius’ Farkas Molnár voices and transformed itself into something new with each guiding idea of synthesis of the arts Heinrich Neuy through the collaboration of art of its directors. and craftsmanship has once again Gyula Pap come to the fore. Today, workpieces Bauhaus. A manifesto. The philoso - Plywood, steel and aluminium were Heinrich Pëus such as the Bauhaus lamp represent phy, which was originally formulated introduced and practicality was at a symbol of the cosmopolitanism Hans Przyrembel by Walter Gropius, first and foremost the heart of everything: chairs had to and diversity that made the Bauhaus encompassed the human being as a be collapsible, and cupboards had to Lilly Reich school in Weimar the starting point whole: artistic, scientific and techni - be mobile. of an epoch in OWOW. Margaretha Reichardt cal questions were combined with new forms of life and art-pedagogi - After a mere two years, the third and Karl Peter Röhl cal concepts. The school was in - final director, Ludwig Mies van der Hinnerk Scheper tended to enable nothing less than Rohe, followed. His focus was on the training a new generation of design - function of the school. The produc - Oskar Schlemmer ers. The work done in the workshops tion department, built in accordance Carl Schneiders and the handling of different materi - with Henry van de Velde’s designs, The Bauhaus logo, OWPP designed by als, guided and shaped by well- was abandoned, the preliminary Lotte Stam-Beese Oskar Schlemmer known artists such as Gerhard course cancelled, and the focus Gunta Stölzl Marcks, Paul Klee and Oskar shifted to architecture. Schlemmer, remain an educational Elsa Thiemann concept in design and architecture However, it was not Gropius alone The studio building of Bauhaus Weimar built in accordance with Wolfgang Tümpel schools to this very day. who shaped what we today refer to Henry van de Velde’s designs. The company moved to Dessau in OWPS. as being “typical Bauhaus”. His suc - Wilhelm Wagenfeld The Swiss architect and advocate of cessors’ legacy is also found in the r e Fritz Winter functionalism, Hannes Meyer, al - clear design vocabulary, the guiding m ö R y l l ready head of “Baulehre” (architec - principle of “form follows function”, i W / r e tural theory) at the Bauhaus school as adopted by the American archi - m ö R y l l in OWPU, opposed the teamwork con - tect, Louis Sullivan, and the combi - i W k e h cept with the “Gesamtkunstwerk” nation of industrial production t o t o h P (synthesis of the arts). Instead of processes with creativity in crafts - , B M S , “art and technology”, it was now manship and design. k e h t o i b “people’s needs instead of luxury”. l i b t s n u K / k k p p b R b S Whether it’s about lights, silverware, door fittings or rotary switches; the focus is always on high quality. ”It’s this symbolic character of the Manufactured in Germany from high-quality materials and with Wagenfeld lamp that fascinates me most.” diligent craftsmanship, it is true to the original and made with the Walter Schnepel same dedication and enthusiasm as nearly RN years ago. Whether it’s about lights, silverware, door fittings or rotary switches; the focus is always on high quality. Manufactured in Germany from high-quality materials and with diligent craftsmanship, it is true to the original and made with the same dedication and enthusiasm as nearly RN years ago. Some things in life happen unexpectedly. And sometimes WA PR is a table lamp that was designed in OWPN. Its captivation lies something that is supposedly unimportant goes on to in its reduction to its basic elements, making it elegant, functional, become something really big. When Walter Schnepel came “Finally, when everything was ready, uncomplicated and also timeless. And undisputedly, it is one of the across early woodcuts by the artist Wilhelm Wagenfeld the German furniture stores didn’t most famous Bauhaus objects today. in OWUT, he knew nothing about a lamp that would lay the want to sell the lamp – and so we had Walter Schnepel discovered it during one of his many visits to foundation for his company TECNOLUMEN. to market and distribute it ourselves, Wilhelm Wagenfeld’s studio. It was Details had to be adjusted, and each form of exchange was possible, as simply standing there, gathering change first had to be approved her home was in Eastern Germany.