Last Friday I had the pleasure of visiting the Munich showroom of German lighting designer
Ingo Maurer and I wanted to share a few images of my day with you. If you are unaware of Maurer then read on as his work is not only beautiful and inspiring, but also functional and used by design lovers all over the world. Maurer began his career by studying graphic design in Munich. In 1960 he moved to America and worked as a freelance graphic designer in both New York and San Francisco. Eventually Maurer returned to Munich and in 1963 founded the company 'Design M', which would later become 'Ingo Maurer GmbH', which developed and manufactured lamps. His career took off when one of his first designs, '
Bulb' (1966), was included in the design collection of the
Museum of Modern Art. The 'Bulb' design is still very iconic today and many lights have been produced since that emulate Maurer's original design - largely due to a renewed popularity of the exposed bulb in interior design. As well as creating lighting products for us to buy, Maurer also creates light installations for both public and private spaces and also takes commissions. If you've been to Munich before then you've probably been to Münchner Freiheit tube station and have seen the blue illuminated columns - this was one of Maurer's projects in 2009.
Maurer has two showrooms worldwide, one in
Munich and one in
New York. His showroom in Munich holds his entire lighting collection. There are over 100 products on show including prototypes and one-offs. It's set in a pretty ivy-covered building just off the busy street of Kaiserstrasse and is well worth a visit if you are planning a trip to the area. While I was there I took a few snaps of some of my favourite pieces, I hope you like them too!
If you are interested in any of these designs they are, from top to bottom:
Johnny B. Butterfly,
L'Eclat Joyeux,
Seven Off The Wall,
Bang Boom Zettel'z,
Canned Light,
Exit, the hologram light
Wo Bist Du, Edison...?, Ingo Maurer's signature
Zettel'z chandelier, two close-ups of the
Zettel'z chandelier. To find out more about Maurer's work and designs, head over to his
website where all his designs are catalogued.
{Images: Laura Blanksby}
