Ulm Design: The Morality of Objects

During its brief existence from 1955 to 1968, the HfG Ulm exerted an influence that no one could have predicted from its small size, improbable location, or short lifespan. Originally conceived as a successor to the Bauhaus, the school quickly abandoned that model and set out to explore the uncharted territory of designing for mass production. Under the direction of Max Bill and Tomas Maldonado, the school became an extraordinary laboratory of design and center of talent. More than twenty years after its closing, Ulm is still considered the most important European school of design since the Bauhaus.As the advocate of an objective and socially aware design for industry, Ulm fashioned a new generation of objects, tools, and transportation and communication systems. The Ulm style - pearl gray with matte finish, adjustable legs, reduction of ornament to a fundamental and pure geometry of form - is embodied in the familiar Krups and Braun product lines and continues to define the look of today's electronic instruments.Reviewers of the German edition of this book have compared it to Hans Wingler's book on the Bauhaus - a definitive reference and source, containing a historical account of the school, a descriptive compendium of objects and designs produced there, an assessment of the school's curriculum, a profile of student life, and a roster of the faculty and guest instructors who taught there. This list includes some of the most able and talented people in the field of German design, among them Dieter Rams, Hans Gugelot, and Otl Aicher. The texts by Reyner Banham, Max Bill, Kenneth Frampton, Tomas Maldonado, and others reflect the always vigorous dialogue between theory and practice, and are accompanied by nearly 600 illustrations.Herbert Lindinger was Professor of Design at HfG Ulm from 1962 to 1968. He is currently Professor and Director of the Institute for Industrial Design at Hanover University.