Furniture-Project #4 The Bauhaus

Christian Dell
24 February 1893 18 July 1974

was a German silversmith.

Dell was born in Offenbach am Main in Hesse
From 1907-11 he completed the silver forging
studies at the academy

In 1912-13 he studied at the Saxon college of

arts and crafts in Weimar
From 1922-25 he worked as a foreman of the
metal workshop at the Bauhaus in Weimar
where he was the man behind a highly
innovative and pioneering style of design. The
Bauhaus occupies a place of its own in the
history of the 20th century culture;
architecture, design, art and new media. As
one of the first colleges of design, it brought
together a number of the most outstanding
contemporary architects and artists.

In 1926 he changed to the Frankfurt art school.

The Nazi Party did not allow him to stay there in
1933, but Walter Gropius offered him a job in
the United States. However, Dell decided to
remain in Germany.
After World War II, Dell manufactured silver
goods and opened a jewellery shop in
Wiesbaden in 1948, which he operated until
1955. He died in Wiesbaden in 1974.
Beginning in 1926 Dell sketched lights, at first for
the New Frankfurt-project. As an early industrial
designer and pioneer of plastic design, Dell used
bakelite and aminoplastics as materials for his
works for Molitor-Zweckleuchten in 1929-30.

Christian-dell molitoroffice-work-lamp-light
Office lamp "Molitor" designed
by Christian Dell for Molitor
Zweckleuchten, Berlin. Material:
Painted metal with textured
finish, brass mounts and bakelite
column detail. The lamp has a
adjustable pivoting arm & shade.

German Bauhaus desk lamp model

President in brass by Christian Dell
for Kaiser Leuchten, Germany,
1930s.

Peter Keler Tecta(1898-1982)

A native of Kiel, Peter Keler gravitated to
the artists colony of Worpswede in the
1920s. Inspired by the Arts & Crafts
Movement in England, Heinrich Vogeler had
transformed his house in Worpswede into a
Gesamtkunstwerk. The impact of the
movements vision of far-reaching social
and political reform is readily apparent in
the sheer diversity of Kelers output, which
included painting, graphic design,
architecture, photography and furniture.
When his workmate Wilhelm Wagenfeld left
Worpeswede for the Bauhaus in Weimar,
Keler followed in his footsteps.
In 1921 he attended Johannes Ittens
preliminary training course.

Later that year Keler enrolled in Oskar

Schlemmer and Wassily Kandinskys mural
painting seminar, of which he was a member
until 1925.
During his time at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Keler
devised colour schemes for a range of structures
and rooms, and the directors office used by
Walter Gropius in the Bauhaus Building.
The various objects of furniture created by Keler
during this period include a cradle inspired by
the teachings of Wassily Kandinsky, which he
completed for the first Bauhaus Exhibition of
1923.
In the summer of 1922, Keler became a member
of KURI (an acronym for constructive, utilitarian,
rational, international), a group of designers and
artists with constructivist ambitions active at the
Bauhaus. Following his departure from the
Bauhaus, Keler established his own studio for
fine and applied painting, graphic design for
advertising and interior design

Cradle
In 1922, the Bauhaus apprentice Peter
Keler, who was just 20 years old at the
time, was inspired by his teacher
Wassily Kandinsky to design the socalled Bauhaus cradle.

This utilises the primary colours of

yellow, red and blue and the triangle,
square and circle forms that Kandinsky
assigned to each of these respectively.
The cradle was presented at the 1923
exhibition at the Haus am Horn.

Cradle
Bauhaus-cradle

Dimensions (cm)

Diameter: 91
Depth: 98

Thanks For Your Listening