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Egon Eiermann Collection | Contract furniture

“First I ask myself if something is right and then whether it is beautiful”

Egon Eiermann (1904–1970), architect and furniture designer: For Eiermann furnishings are part of the overall architectural concept.

1904

Egon Eiermann was born on September 29, 1904, in Neuendorf, now a part of Potsdam-Babelsberg.

1922

Eiermann was already gaining building experience before he started his studies.

1928

After his studies, Egon Eiermann goes to the construction office of Karstadt AG. Thereafter, to the electric company.

1931

Eiermann became a member of the German Werkbund and the Bund Deutscher Architekten. He started his own architect’s office.

1937

Eiermann designed “Gebt mir vier Jahre Zeit” [Give me four years] for the propaganda exhibition. From 1938 onwards his office was designing industrial buildings.

1942

SE 42 – unique three-legged chair

Seat and back optimally adapted to the human shape: The SE 42 three-legged chair consists completely of molded wood; a unique innovation with highly distinctive lines.

1945

When his Berlin office suffered war damage, Eiermann made a new start as an architect in Mosbach (Odenwald).

1947

Egon Eiermann was appointed to the chair of architecture at the Karlsruhe Technische Hochschule.

1948

Architectural office Karlsruhe

Eiermann moved his architectural office to Karlsruhe, where he worked as an architect until he died.

1949

SE 40 / SE 43 – swivel chair and stool, classic

Take a seat please! Swivel stool SE 43 and swivel chair SE 40 resplendent with all the strengths of Eiermann design: These chairs have distinctive presence but are unpretentious.

1950

S 38 S/1 and SB 38 – united in understatement

Stackable stool S 38 S/1 and bar stool SB 38: The delicately shaped seat and slender construction have an elegance that is never obtrusive.

1950

In the USA Eiermann grappled with American design; he met Gropius and Breuer, and later Mies van der Rohe.

1950

Clarity as a program

Organically shaped seats and backs made from molded wood: The four-legged chair SE 68 SU is stackable and has a linking device for use in rows in large rooms.

1950

VS developed the wooden skid chair. This school chair classic was frequently copied in subsequent decades.

VS product

1951

SE 68 – slender tubular steel, organic shape

Minimalistic but with powerfully expressive lines: This classic from 1951 is still cutting edge today. The four-legged chair is also available with armrests and writing tablet.

1951

Eiermann’s award-winning handkerchief factory in Blumberg gained recognition; he became the founding member of the German Design Council.

1951

SE 330 – minimalism with maximum effect

A design program convincingly realized: The couch or café table SE 330 is also light and stable, slender but substantial, refined and modestly informal.

Beginning of the 1950s

Between 1949 and 1954 those models came into being that today are listed with the pioneering achievements of the 1950s and which ensured Eiermann his place amongst the classics of modern furniture design.

1952

SE 18 – it folds flat easily!

SE 18 Folding chair: In the Museum of Modern Art in New York since 1953, at the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958 – and still today it has not lost an ounce of its original charm.

1953

Church of St. Matthews, Pforzheim: Design features included a simple concrete frame structure and wall areas with honeycomb window elements.

1954

The KN 38 stackable chair, designed by Karl Nothhelfer, with its slender functionality was a decidedly modern chair when VS introduced it on to the market - and it is manufactured still today.

VS product

1955

As a stylistically influential college teacher and architect, Eiermann became a member of the Berlin Academy of the Arts.

1956

The new VS administrative building (designed by Karl Nothhelfer) was completed. Its linear, clear concept displays a sure commitment to post-war modernism.

VS product

1958

A highpoint in his career: Eiermann with Sep Ruf designed the glass-cube German pavilion for the Brussels World’s Fair.

1958

German pavilion, Brussels

Continuation of modernism: With his non-dogmatic designs aligned with Bauhaus ideals Eiermann determined the image of the young German republic. The internationally renowned German pavilion at the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels was one of his most significant buildings (in collaboration with Sep Ruf).

1958

The German pavilion group for the Brussels World’s Fair was designed by Egon Eiermann in collaboration with Sep Ruf. Exhibiting there on the theme of education and learning, VS’s contribution included modern tubular-steel swivel chairs (design Falk Müller).

VS product

1958

Eiermann built a six-story, 300-meter long company headquarters for Neckermann AG in Frankfurt.

1958

SBG 197R – archetype of the modern office chair

Compellingly functional and the absolute favorite of many architects: For the 1958 World’s Fair, Egon Eiermann created a swivel chair with the special structural form of the Brussels base frame.

1960

The school was the main topic at the XII Milan Trienniale. The VS swivel chair designed by Falk Müller was amongst the school furniture exhibited in the German section.

VS product

1960

Department store with honeycomb facade

A frequently criticized but distinctive feature of post-war Germany: Horten tiles – ornamental cladding designed by Eiermann for the Horten department store. It allowed for a highly flexible building floor plan and, by means of structural unification, it also provided a consistent corporate identity for the store chain.

1960

The famous Horten façade: Eiermann developed a superior, abstract facade without reference to its urban context.

1961

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin

Eiermann’s new construction in 1961 represented one of the most famous buildings of post-war modernism in Germany – in a central area of what was then West Berlin. The modern ensemble of octagonal nave, separate bell tower, foyer and chapel displays a responsible and reflective handling of issues around post-war reconstruction.

1961

Part of the Eiermann new construction of the Memorial Church, Berlin: seating for the building restored by VS in the company-owned training workshop.

VS product

1961

Eiermann won the competition and implemented the reconstruction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin.

1964

Eiermann conceived a terraced construction for the German Embassy in Washington, integrated into the grounds.

1965

The idea of an architect’s table – E1/E2 table frame

In 1953 Eiermann designed the famous E1 metal table frame for work in an architect’s office. The construction consists of two side-piece frames securely welded to the table frame with a diagonal cross-shaped rod; on the top was a simple wooden board. In 1965 his assistant modified the table to create the E2 that could be dismantled and transported.

1967

Main headquarters of IBM in Stuttgart – one of the most important buildings of Eiermann’s later work.

1968

The Olivetti high-rise towers in Frankfurt were not finished until two years after Eiermann’s death.

1969

The high-rise parliament building in Bonn was an architectural expression of democracy.

Egon Eiermann is seen as the architect of the early Federal Republic period. Not least for his parliament high-rise building in Bonn, inaugurated in 1969. As an architectural expression of early post-war democracy, Eiermann’s concept was of logic, purity and clarity.

1969

The Parliament high-rise in Bonn, known as the Langer Eugen, is one of the most famous of Eiermann’s buildings.

Egon Eiermann
1904 – 1970

Amongst a number of other great exponents of German post-war architecture, Egon Eiermann was a champion of functional aestheticism and constructional clarity. He was one of the most significant advocates for the rebuilding of a war-ravaged Germany. The continuation of modern building in the young, cosmopolitan Federal Republic owes much to his influence.

1970

As an architect, furniture designer and college teacher he was an important inspiration in post-war Germany: Eiermann died on July 19, 1970.

2004

A German postal service stamp was dedicated to the memory of Egon Eiermann.

For the „Eiermann-collection“, the lisensor is Wilde+Spieth.

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