Theory and practice

Schneeberg students take a practical approach: They design innovative furniture and build it themselves in the university's own workshops.

At this year's imm cologne in January, 26 international universities took the opportunity to present both themselves and their work. A host of fresh ideas were on display. The furniture designs of one university attracted particular attention. The wood design course run by Zwickau University of Applied Sciences department of applied art in Schneeberg was one of the recipients of a design prize awarded by Koelnmesse for its project on the subject of "sitting on wood and metal". Not only the chairs but the exhibition stand, too, with its warm accentuated lighting and gracefully rotating presentation surfaces driven by motors, were built in the university's own carpentry workshop.
Over a period of six months 14 students from two semesters developed a highly imaginative suite of furniture under the guidance of professors Gerd Kaden, Dorothea Vent and Jochen Voigt, which thanks to the support of furniture manufacturer Thonet were turned into products. Students made use of the curved tubular steel for which the company is famous, but also worked with materials of their own choosing such as rubber and plastic. The seat shells were crafted by the students themselves using bonding technology.
"Our objective was not a series-production prototype - hardly possible in such a short time", explains Jochen Voigt, "but a free artistic approach to a difficult subject. Despite this freedom, the focus on functionality remained." All creations were built by the students themselves to full size using the original material, sometimes with the support of the university's own cabinet making and metal workshops. Unlike most other teaching institutes of design in Germany, the Schneeberg students work on their designs for the most part in generously equipped workshops in keeping with the Bauhaus workshop tradition.
"We don't deny the importance of the computer and its possibilities, and it does form an integral part of the course - as it does in all universities", Voigt explains, "but working with original materials has priority. So students who come to us should already be trained in a craft. Here, they are then granted the freedom to work at any time of day or night in our workshops without bureaucratic obstacles.
Our students are committed to our most important material, wood. You could say they study at the carpenter's bench or woodworking machines. Where else are all students offered such an opportunity to work continuously with generous supplies of wood and other materials, allowing them to produce designs on a grand scale? This is underpinned by ongoing training that develops a sense for the aesthetic qualities of a material and feasibility of a design. Most people think the computer makes ‘everything possible’ today but it is not actually true. We are trying to counter this trend with a practical course of study." It is not state support that has made these blissful conditions for study possible but many and varied contacts with partners in the industry (like Thonet), a company which is growing all the time and which supports trainees either financially or with materials. The results are student projects of the quality and quantity seen this year in Cologne.
The chair designs demonstrate that there is an affinity with other materials even though wood is the preferred medium. This also familiarises students with the properties of metals, plastics and so forth. By providing the bulk of the input, students establish a completely different relationship with their design than they would with computer-assisted design. Even the laminated wood seat shells of some of the chairs (Stefan Hahnemann, Florian Schmigalle, Christiane Kunath) were crafted by the students themselves. In this case, making moulds and jigs formed an important component of the work.

m+a report Nr.2 / 2006 vom 24.03.2006
m+a report vom 24. März 2006