Bauhaus Archive Opens Comprehensive Exhibition of Ingo Maurer’s Work

BERLIN.- Ingo Maurer is one of the world’s best-known lighting designers. Over the past four decades he has developed and produced lamps, light objects and lighting concepts. Always committed to handcraft, full of creative ideas and distinguished by technical innovations, they have become milestones of lighting design. In 1966, Maurer made the light source itself into the subject of his designs with the ‘Bulb’ lamp, which brought his international breakthrough. The light bulb has remained a leitmotif in his work up to the present day. With the introduction of a silicon sheath (‘Euro Condom’), he is currently protesting against the sales prohibition of incandescent bulbs. In addition, he is working on the development of a new type of light bulb, called ‘WonderLux’, in an effort to bring his enthusiasm for the incandescent light bulb into harmony with energy-efficient light sources.

"Bulb" Design: Ingo Maurer. Photo:Tom Vack

This past February, Maurer was honoured for his life’s work with the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany. To mark the occasion, the Bauhaus Archive / Museum of Design is presenting a comprehensive exhibition of his work through 30 August 2010 under the title ‘Complete with bulb – Lighting by Ingo Maurer’.

When one orders a lamp by Ingo Maurer, it is delivered complete with the bulb – be it a conventional incandescent lamp or a halogen lamp. This clearly illustrates his understanding of the overall effects and uses of light: Maurer does not just design lamps – rather, he creates lighting concepts that are directly related to the individual living space or the public environment.

Maurer’s lighting objects are one-of-a-kind. Individual components appear repeatedly, and their technical features are constantly refined. The most famous example is the low-voltage lighting system ‘YaYaHo’ (1984), which comprises metal wires and numerous individual lighting elements. Much more unusual designs are created by Maurer with LED or OLED technology.

The names of the objects are composed of humorous plays on words, onomatopoeic terms or the designer’s own verbal creations: the winged light bulb ‘Lucellino’ – a compound word combining the Italian nouns ‘luce’ (light) and ‘ucellino’ (little bird) – is regarded as Ingo Maurer’s trademark. On his website, which was distinguished with the ‘reddot design award’ in 2003, ‘Lucellino’ is featured in a wonderful animated film.

Born in 1932, this ‘lighting poet’ founded a one-man company in 1966. Since that time, his team has grown to 70 employees, who play a significant role in his great success. The entire collaborative design and development process takes place in Munich, beginning with the idea and culminating in production. Maurer opened a New York showroom in 1999, followed by a second display space in Munich in 2009.