Wilhelm Wagenfeld

Wilhelm Wagenfeld (° Bremen, on April 15th, 1900 - † Stuttgart, on May 28th, 1990) is one of the the most important industrial designer German of the 20th century, raises then professor with the Bauhaus.

Biography

Wagenfeld makes its training in its birthplace, in the workshop of drawing of the factory of silverware Koch & Bergfeld () and, in parallel, follows the courses of the Kunstgewerbeschule then those of the Staatliche Zeichenakademie () of Hanau before being allowed, in 1923, in the workshop of goldsmithery of Bauhaus of Weimar where he works, in others, with László Moholy-Nagy. For the examination of master craftsman goldsmith-engraver, it creates, in 1924, celebrates it and timeless lamp Bauhaus WG 24, according to a project initially conceived by Carl Jacob Jucker.

The Staatliche Bauhoschschule replaces Bauhaus of Weimar after its dissolution on April 1st, 1925 and Wilhelm Wagenfeld is the lecturer of the workshop of the metal of this school of 1925 to 1929; it directs this same workshop of 1929 to 1930 and it is during this period that is born its collaboration with industrialists, in particular S.A. Loevy in Berlin.

It creates then its own agency and conceives for the company Jenaer Glaswerk Schott & Gen. () of the objects out of glass, of which the coffee machine and stove Sintrax , the teapot out of fire glass.

From 1931 to 1935, he is professor with the Staatlichen Kunsthochschule Grunewaldstrasse of Berlin, then he ensures the artistic director of the glassmaking Vereinigten Lausitzer Glaswerke (VLG) of Weißwasser () with, simultaneously, an activity of design of objects out of porcelain for the companies Fürstenberg () and Rosenthal AG (); thanks to the collaboration of the painter Charles Crodrel () who developed a technique of decoration on glass intended for an industrial production in series, the products of glassmaking VLG are present in exposures muséales where the most beautiful objects resulting from industry are shown.

At the time of the 2 {{E}} world war and after its refusal to adhere to NSDAP, Wilhelm Wagenfeld is enlisted in the army and envoy on the Eastern face.

After the war, he is professor of industrial design to the Hochschule für Bildende Künste of Berlin, of 1947 to 1949 then, then, rapporteur for industrial creation, of 1949 to 1950, near the Land Wurtemberg-Bade with Stuttgart. Installed in this city, it founds in 1954 the Wagenfeld workshop which counts, among its famous customers, the manufacturers WMF () (arts of the table), Braun GMBH (small household appliances), Peill & Putzler with Düren and Lindner with Bamberg (luminaries).

Wilhelm Wagenfeld is the cofounder of the review Form . It ceases its community activity in 1978 and firm the same year its workshop of Stuttgart.

Selection of objects

1924 : Lamps Bauhaus WG 24 and Bauhaus WA 24
1930: Lamp WNL 30 for Weimar Beam und Wohnungskunst GMBH
1931: Coffee machine and Sintrax stove for Jenaer Glaswerk Schott & Gen.
1931: Service with for Jenaer Glaswerk Schott & Gen.
1934: Service 639 for Fürstenberg
1938: Service Daphne for Rosenthal
Years 1950: Salt box and pepper plantation max and Moritz for WMF
1955: Radio-phonograph combi for Braun

Distinctions (selection)

1937 : Gold medal of World Fair, Paris
1940: Grand Prix with Triennial of Milan
1957: Grand Prix with Triennial of Milan (for the whole of its work)
1965: Member of honor of the Academy of Arts of Berlin ()
1968: Medal Heinrich Tessenow ()
1968: Member of honor of the Deutscher Werkbund
1968: Guest of honor of the Villa Massimo () with Rome
1969: Federal price Gute Form () for the service of glass Greif
1982: Federal price Gute Form for the lamp Bahaus WG 24

External bonds

the foundation Wilhelm Wagenfeld
the School Wilhelm Wagenfeld
the Lamp MT8, site of Victoria and Albert Museum, consulted on December 1st, 2007

Sources & references

Raymond Guidot: History of the design 1940-1990, Hazan Editions, 1994, p. 351 & 352 (ISBN 2-8502-5373-1)

Random links: