Table Of ContentDesigning for Socialist Need
How does industrial design operate outside of capitalist consumer culture?
Designing for Socialist Needassembles a detailed picture of industrial design
practice in the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR). Drawing on
much previously unexplored material from a wide variety of sources, it not
only maps out some of the ideological, institutional and economic contexts
withi n which GDR design functioned, it also critically reconstructs the
designers’ aims and perspectives in order to argue that they shared a pro-
foundly socially responsible approach to design. By focusing on their ideas
and approaches, this volume attends to the previously unacknowl edged
intellectual and prac tical richness of GDR design culture and demonstrates
that it can provide pertinent insights not only for scholars of GDR history
or German design, but also for contemporary design practitioners, theorists
and educators with an interest in sustainability in design.
Katharina Pfützner is Lecturer in Industrial Design at the National College
of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland, where she also contributes to under-
graduate and postgraduate programs at the school’s Faculty of Visual
Culture. Her primary interest is in socially responsible design. She has a
background in design practice and a PhD in design history. Her research on
design in the GDR has been presented in numerous conference papers and
publications.
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Designing for Socialist Need
Industrial Design Practice in the German Democratic Republic
Katharina Pfützner
Designing for Socialist
Need
Industrial Design Practice in the
German Democratic Republic
Katharina Pfützner
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Katharina Pfützner
The right of Katharina Pfützner to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification
and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pfützner, Katharina, author.
Title: Designing for socialist need : industrial design practice in the German
Democratic Republic / Katharina Pfützner.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2018. | Series: Routledge research in
architecture | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017034761| ISBN 9781138187917 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315642833 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Industrial design—Germany (East) | Design—Social
aspects—Germany (East)
Classification: LCC TS73.1 .P49 2018 | DDC 745.20943/1—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017034761
ISBN: 978-1-138-18791-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-64283-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK
For Julianne and Dylan
Contents
List of figures ix
Acknowledgements xiii
List of abbreviations xvii
Introduction 1
PART 1
The fundamentals of GDR design 17
1 Aims and priorities 19
2 Institutional support 59
PART 2
Exemplary ideas and practices 87
3 Designing for complex functionality 89
4 Designing for appropriate product lifespans 111
5 Designing systems 139
PART 3
Resistance encountered by GDR designers 171
6 Cultural–political opposition 173
7 Obstacles in the spheres of production and distribution 207
Conclusion 249
Index 255
Figures
0.1 Erich John, Urania World Clock, 1968 2
1.1 Marcel Breuer, B 64 tubular steel chair, 1928 21
1.2 Margarete Jahny and Erich Müller, hotel table service
Rationell, 1970 24
1.3 Margarete Jahny and Erich Müller, hotel table service
Rationell, 1970 25
1.4 Dietmar Palloks and Michael Stender, portable radio Stern-
Dynamic, 1971 28
1.5 Manfred Claus (under supervision by Rudi Högner), slide
projector Aspektar 150, 1957 31
1.6 Institute for Interior Design Weimar, assessment sheets for
Sortimentsbereinigung for VEB Polstermöbelfabrik Cottbus
(top) and VEB Sitzmöbelindustrie Brand-Erbisdorf (bottom),
ca. 1958 33
1.7 Product review ‘EBM – Industrieform’ of cutlery, household
appliances and objects in aluminium and enamel by
manufacturers of the Industry Association for Iron and
Metalware, 1961 35
1.8 Wolfgang Dyroff, electrical installation system System 80,
Groups 1 (left) and 2 (right), 1966 36
1.9 Hans Gugelot and Dieter Rams, Phonosuper SK4 phonograph
and radio, 1956 41
1.10 Herbert Lindinger and Hans Gugelot, modular audio system
Radio-Phono-Tonband-Baukastensystem, 1957–59 41
1.11 Hans (Nick) Roericht, hotel tableware TC 100, 1958–59 42
1.12 Unnamed student (under supervision by Marianne Brandt),
stackable tea or coffee pot set, ca. 1950 43
2.1 Working group ‘Gestaltung für Behinderte’, modular indoor
wheelchair, 1985–87 74
2.2 Working group ‘Gedeckter Tisch’: Ines Bruhn, cutlery sets
with steel wire handles and plastic handles, 1986; Dietmar
Scheibe, monoblock cutlery sets, 1985–86 (top); Marita
Voigt, large glass storage containers, 1986 (bottom) 76
