The Ulm Model

Despite its short life, The Ulm School of Design pioneered the teaching of design worldwide: the Raven Gallery in London presents a major exhibition.

The Raven Row gallery is presenting “The Ulm Model”, an exhibition on the German school that in few years pioneered an interdisciplinary and systematic approach to design education that soon bacame universal. Curated by Peter Kapos, the exhibition display structures are designed by David Kohn Architects.

This is the first exhibition in the UK to represent the achievements of The Ulm School of Design (HfG Ulm, 1953–1968), including the foundation work in drawings and models by the students as well as the radical designs famously commissioned from the school by corporate clients such as Braun and Lufthansa.

Designers Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Dieter Rams, instructors Hans Gugelot and Otl Aicher, The Ulm Model, 2016 — Designers Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Dieter Rams, instructors Hans Gugelot and Otl Aicher, manufacturer Braun, SK 4 Phonosuper, combined audio system, 1956. Photo Marcus J. Leith, courtesy HfG-Archiv/Ulmer Museum

From radiographs and weighing machines to traffic lights, petrol cans, bed frames and kitchenware, the exhibition will gather and correlate objects designed for diverse industries at HfG Ulm. Braun GmbH is providing the exhibition with the last remaining units of their iconic D 55 display structure, designed at the school in 1955 to exhibit its modernist reinvention of Braun’s audio sets.

Design work was mostly collectivised and rationalised, the idea of the designer as intuitive ‘artist’ emphatically rejected, and the designer’s role understood as only one amongst the many specialisms of industrial production. The exhibition suggests that the school continued the projects of the artistic avant-gardes, especially Constructivism, where objects were systematically designed to create ideal social relations.

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Students Bernd Meurer and Willi Ramstein, professor Herbert Ohl, Space units for residential buildings, 1961. Photo Roland Fürst. Courtesy HfG-Archiv, Ulmer Museum

Designer Hans Roericht, development Group E 5, led by Otl Aicher, manufacturer Lufthansa, on-board tableware, setting and trays, prototypes, 1962-63. Photo Marcus J. Leith, courtesy HfG-Archiv/Ulmer Museum

Student Dieter Raffler, instructor Peter Raacke, plastic shell suitcases, manufacturer Hanning, Product Design, 1965-66. Photo Marcus J. Leith, courtesy HfG-Archiv/Ulmer Museum

Left: student Hans von Klier, instructor Georg Leowald, espresso maker, 1956-57. Right: student Larry Monk, instructor Hans Gugelot, coffee grinder, 1960-61, Product Design. Photo Marcus J. Leith, courtesy HfG-Archiv/Ulmer Museum

Tomás Maldonado with Gui Bonsiepe and Rudolf Scharfenberg, advertisement for Erbotherm, manufacturer Erbe Elektromedizin. Photo Wolfgang Siol. Courtesy HfG-Archiv, Ulmer Museum

until 18 December 2016
The Ulm Model
curated by Peter Kapos
Raven Row
56 Artillery Lane, London

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