Horst Meru
Horst Carl Heinrich Meru , also Horst CH Meru , (* as Horst Meyer on June 11, 1936 in Altenburschla ; † December 17, 2012 in Hohenems , Vorarlberg) was a German designer and university professor.
Life
Horst Meru was born as Horst Meyer in Altenburschla near Eschwege as the first of four siblings. After an apprenticeship as a painter from 1951 to 1954, Horst Meru studied at the Werkkunstschule Kassel from 1954 to 1957 and completed the basic design course as well as the subjects painting and interior design with Professor Jupp Ernst (1905-1987, type artist, commercial artist, painter, sculptor, photographer, architect , Industrial designer and author of specialist publications, co-founder of the magazine 'form'), who at the same time also became director of the Werkkunstschule. He was shaped by the Bauhaus influences from Fritz Christoph Hüffner , director of the Werkkunstschule from 1960, and Herbert Malecki (1922–1999, lecturer in sociology in Kassel, 'Spielräume' 1969). He continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart in Stuttgart with a scholarship for gifted students from the State of Hesse . Before that, however, he had gone to Ulm to originally study with Max Bill at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG). But Bill advised him not to stay in Ulm, because at the same time a dispute was raging about Bauhaus education, the advocate of which was the Swiss and therefore had him break up his tents in Ulm. Thus, Meru had lost his interest in the Ulm University and turned to Stuttgart. Meru was able to persuade Herbert Hirche , also a Bauhaus student under Mies van der Rohe , to found the Industrial Design (ID) branch within the existing architecture class, whose first student Horst Meru (1957–1962). It is thanks to Meru that the name "Industrial Design" (ID) has existed since 1957. In 1962, Meru’s examination certificate also shows this term for the first time in German-speaking countries.
After working for several years in various studios and design offices, u. a. at Lepoix in Baden-Baden / Paris / Barcelona, at Herbert Hirche in Stuttgart, he and his wife Gudrun founded their own industrial design and architecture office in Herrenberg near Stuttgart.
Meru was a lecturer at the FH Schwäbisch Gmünd from 1970 to 1971. In 1973 he was appointed associate professor at the newly founded Art University Linz . Meru initiated and directed the master class for design (industrial design), which in 1976, according to a ministerial decision, was renamed for his now independent diploma course of study as " industrial design " (ID). In 1977 he was appointed full professor for industrial design at the University of Artistic and Industrial Design in Linz. After many years of initiatives and repeated requests, on August 1, 1998, he achieved an amendment to the university course. The field of study ID is assigned to engineering studies. A year later, a separate academic degree is created for the successfully completed graduate, "magistra / magister designationis industrialis" (mag.des.ind). This decades-long struggle for recognition of the studied industrial designer was celebrated in a 2000 manifesto. He achieved a conversion of the University of Artistic and Industrial Design into University of Artistic and Industrial Design Linz , professorial office for Industrial Design. In 2002 Horst Meru retired and moved to Lake Constance.
In 1961 Horst Meru married his fellow student Gudrun Keck from Herrenberg, whom he knew from studying architecture with Herbert Hirche. There were two daughters from the marriage.
Fonts
- Artificial environment, Meru design evolution. From two-dimensional artistic to three-dimensional design in theory and practice / industrial design, Meru Manifest 2000. , Trauner Universitätsverlag Linz 2000
Web links
- Literature by and about Horst Meru in the catalog of the German National Library
- Literature by and about Horst Meru in the bibliographic database WorldCat
- Information about Jupp Ernst http://www.germandesigners.net/designers/jupp_ernst
- Herbert Malecki, craftsmanship and work of art. A dialectical problem., Kassel. Staatliche Werkkunstschule 1964. 27 pages
- Directors of the Werkkunstschule Kassel https://www.darmstadt-stadtlexikon.de/w/werkkunstschule/
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Meru, Horst |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Meru, Horst Carl Heinrich (full name); Meru, Horst CH; Meyer, Horst (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German designer and university professor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 11, 1936 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Altenburschla |
| DATE OF DEATH | 17th December 2012 |
| Place of death | Hohenems , Vorarlberg |