Intermediaries between History and the Present Day – Design Museums in Germany

Enlarge image

Design objects from the sixties on display in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Cologne © picture-alliance/ dpa

(© picture-alliance/ dpa)

At first glance design museums seem to be a contradiction in terms. After all we usually associate the concept of design with something contemporary or innovative, and as such it does not immediately make sense for these future-oriented products to be collected or exhibited in a place of remembrance.

However, we are quick to forget two things. Firstly that the discipline of design is now over a hundred years old and therefore boasts a rich history. Secondly, the fact that museums do not just have a retrospective role to fulfill, they are also in a position to depict contemporary situations.

Interesting insight into the development of design

Enlarge image

The body of a VW Beetle from 1948, designed by Ferdinand Porsche, hangs on the wall in the Neues Museum in Nuremberg.

(© picture-alliance / dpa)

If you wanted to categorize the German design museum scene, you could roughly split them into public museums and collections on the one hand, and privately-funded museums, including dedicated company museums, on the other hand. Even though the latter can mainly be categorized under the heading of “company presentation,” in their entirety they still offer visitors a high quality, differentiated overview of German design.

The first ones to mention are the car museums opened by almost all German automotive manufacturers in recent years, ranging from the BMW Museum in Munich, the Mercedes-Benz Museum and the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, to the Volkswagen AutoMuseum in Wolfsburg. Given that car manufacture and the discipline of design have been closely linked with each other since the end of the 19th century because of industrial development, these museums guarantee interesting insight, particularly with regard to design and its development. The new Dornier Museum in Friedrichshafen, with its comprehensive exhibition on the history of aviation and space travel, also falls into this category.

Enlarge image

The classic Thonet No. 14, which is comprised of six wooden parts, 10 screws and two screw nuts, is now over 150 years old.

(© picture-alliance / gm )

Beyond product history

But company museums in other industries must be mentioned at this point. For instance, numerous furniture companies present an overview that goes beyond the history of their own product. Museum Thonet in Hessian Frankenberg is worth a mention as well as a visit, as well as Tecta’s Kragstuhlmuseum in Lauenförde. The Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein has been presenting large-scale themed exhibitions (independently from the Furniture manufacturer Vitra) for years, which are on display across the world in other museums as well. Last, but not least, a number of design-orientated companies such as Braun in Kronberg or Miele in Gütersloh contribute towards a differentiated picture of German design with their museums.

The private red dot Design Museum in Essen takes a different approach. Although they only showcase the current winners of the red dot design competition, which changes every year, the result of this is an up-to-date cross-section of advanced design around the world.

The many public design museums in Germany are frequently closely linked with museums of applied art, in other words arts and crafts – which has historical theme-related reasons. At the same time many of these museums now have design departments in their own right, which often have their own collection focuses.

The first design museum in the world

Enlarge image

View to the "Neue Sammlung" in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich

(© picture-alliance / dpa/dpaweb )

One of the most comprehensive and at the same time oldest is Die Neue Sammlung (the new collection). Founded back in 1907 as the first design museum in the world, today it is one of the most important design museums worldwide with around 75,000 exhibits from the fields of industrial and graphic design as well as crafts. Die Neue Sammlung is kept at three different sites. One is the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich where it has been since 2002, in which they display a comprehensive permanent exhibition as well as special ones. It was back in 2000 that the Neues Museum (New Museum) opened in Nuremberg, which as “state museum for art and design” has its thematic focus on the post-1945 period. Finally there is also the Weiden site, which is where the museum’s ceramics collection is situated.

Four museums with emphasis on design

With the Bauhaus Archive / Museum of Design, the Industrial Design Collection, the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) as well as the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge (German Work Federation Archive – Museum of Things), Berlin offers a total of four museums with an emphasis on design. The Kunstgewerbemuseum devotes attention to interior design, including furniture, lighting, crockery or objects, for which the focus is not on the trade-in value but on the artistic design. The Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge styles itself as the “museum for object culture of the 20th and 21st century,” which is characterized by industrial mass production and manufacture of goods. The museum collection includes around 35,000 documents and approx. 25,000 objects of significance to the history of design and everyday culture.

The Industrial Design Collection, which was assigned to the Haus der Geschichte Foundation in 2005, provides a fantastic overview of design in the Soviet Zone/GDR. The entire collection comprises around 160,000 artifacts, although at the moment it can only be accessed for scientific research.

Enlarge image

Tubular steel furniture from Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (developed between 1927 bis 1930) on display in the Bauhaus-Museum

(© picture-alliance / dpa)

Bauhaus history

The Bauhaus Archive concentrates on the history and effects of the Bauhaus movement (1919-1933) – the most important school of architecture, design and art in the 20th century – in its permanent exhibition “Die Sammlung Bauhaus, Originale der Klassischen Moderne” (The Bauhaus Collection Classic Modern Originals).

The other two former Bauhaus sites also own extensive collections and archives in the form of Bauhaus Dessau and the Bauhaus-Museum in Weimar, which are accessible to the public within the scope of permanent exhibitions and themed presentations. The development of classy commodities, for instance furniture, drinking vessels or porcelain over the centuries can still be tracked excellently today at the Museum August Kestner in Hanover.

A close relationship between design and art

The Museum MARTa in Herford, which opened in 2005, is dedicated to the increasing cross-over between the creative disciplines of art and design. Although the museum does not have its own design collection, it follows an interdisciplinary program with its special exhibitions, a fact that is even revealed in its name: M is for Möbel (furniture) – among other things the museum houses the Competence Center for the wood, furniture and plastics industries – ART refers to the art aspect, and the “a” denotes the (shared) atmosphere.

Enlarge image

"Consumer's Chair," a 1983 design by Frank Schreiner, aka Stiletto, is on display at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Cologne.

(© picture-alliance/ dpa)

Frankfurt and Cologne each have independent design departments in their respective Museums for Applied Art. In Frankfurt the principal areas of Art Nouveau / Art Deco, post-1945 arts and crafts and the product design collection provide insight into industrial design since 1900. It is different in Cologne: here the close relationship between design and art in the 20th century is presented with the Winkler Collection, in which key design works are exhibited right opposite outstanding contemporary paintings. With this approach the exhibition confronts visitors with the closely interwoven relationship between industrial design and artistic developments in an impressive way.

Further enrichment

The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (Museum of Arts and Crafts) in Hamburg also houses its own design collection. The Italian design collection is a special feature, as it also includes numerous works by the Memphis Group from Milan.

In 2011 the renovated Grassi Museum for Applied Art in Leipzig will open with its permanent exhibition “Art Nouveau to Present Day,” which will enrich the German design museum scene further. The highlight will be the reconstruction of the Vereinigte Lausitzer Glaswerke Weißwasser exhibition stand by Lilli Reich for the Grassi exhibition in 1936.

Written by freelance author, journalist and lecturer Stephan Ott, who has been responsible for communication at the German Design Council since the beginning of 1999.

Translation: Jo Beckett

Copyright: Goethe-Institut