Available from Stardust Modern Design
“Good design is as little design as possible”: For Max Bill, the advocate of good form, an economic use of materials, low costs, functionality and durability were all considered absolutely imperative. His designs were aimed to last and not made for quick consumption. In doing so, according to the multi-talented designer, beauty is not just the outcome of successful construction, but rather also holds its own value. This is something that the young generation today is discovering for itself, says Felix Messmer: “Their interest in these classics has much more to do with sustainability. The times of a throw-away society are over.” And so, evergreens such as the Ulm stool make for highly suitable counterdrafts. Stardust offers the entire Max Bill design collection which includes the Max Bill Watches and Max Bill Clocks.
“Good design is as little design as possible”: For Max Bill, the advocate of good form, an economic use of materials, low costs, functionality and durability were all considered absolutely imperative. His designs were aimed to last and not made for quick consumption. In doing so, according to the multi-talented designer, beauty is not just the outcome of successful construction, but rather also holds its own value. This is something that the young generation today is discovering for itself, says Felix Messmer: “Their interest in these classics has much more to do with sustainability. The times of a throw-away society are over.” And so, evergreens such as the Ulm stool make for highly suitable counterdrafts. Stardust offers the entire Max Bill design collection which includes the Max Bill Watches and Max Bill Clocks.
The
"Ulm stool" is one of Max Bill's best-known pieces and an exemplary
icon of the sleek minimalist style of 20th century mid-century modern
Swiss design. Three planks of spruce wood and a lateral wooden bar: the
furniture icon is complete. The “Ulm stool” is simple, sleek and
minimalistic. Yet at the same time one of the most versatile pieces of
furniture one could possibly imagine. For the wooden block weighing just
2.1 kilos is not only a mobile seat, but also a step stool, a side
table, a shelving element, a container, a serving tray and a table
piece.
More than anything else, this item of everyday
furniture is a statement. In 1954, Max Bill designed the stool for the
newly-founded Ulm College of Design. The creative Swiss mind (he was an
all-in-one architect, painter, graphic artist and designer) was a
co-founder of the legendary institution, considered the legitimate
successor to the Bauhaus.
The “Ulm stool” arose, so to speak, out of necessity; the necessity to
develop inexpensive seating for students despite a lack of funds. So
Bill joined forces with tutor Hans Gugelot and master carpenter Paul
Hildinger, to create an angular, minimalistic solution, which would soon
become exemplary of the particular concept of product design propagated
at Ulm. Its reduced, functional and above all cost-effective design
made it a symbol for a completely new understanding of design. The fact
that actually sitting on the stool was not necessarily comfortable was
irrelevant. When the new college building opened in 1955, everyone, be
they students or tutors, had an "Ulm stool"; the three-plank,
multifunctional universal furniture became a central feature of the
design school.