Workshops for German household items

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The workshops for German household goods in Dresden-Striesen were a company in the course of the reform movement at the turn of the century as a counter-movement to the fast-moving mass production that had arisen since the middle of the 19th century . From 1902 the workshops for German household goods produced handcrafted furniture in small series at affordable prices.

history

The company was founded in 1902 by Theophil Müller in Dresden-Striesen after his father Julius Müller, co-owner of the Dresden workshops for craftsmanship in Hellerau , died. Karl Schmidt paid the shares of his deceased co-owner to his son Theophil Müller and relocated the sales and workshop to Blasewitzer Strasse  17. As a result, Theophil Müller founded an independent company at Bärensteiner Strasse 5 in Dresden-Striesen with the workshops for German household goods .

In 1902, Theophil Müller wrote in a circular to his customers that he wanted to create “good, modern, but cheap craftsmanship” in order to counter the concerns “very nice - but who can pay for it”. Around 1900 arts and crafts companies emerged in Dresden , which, in contrast to other rather elitist workshops or artists' associations, were engaged in the production of simple and inexpensive furniture for a large group of customers and thus achieved considerable exhibition and sales success.

Renowned artists from the environment of the reform movement, such as Johann Vincenz Cissarz , August Endell , Karl Groß , Max Alexander Nicolai , Fritz Philipp Schmidt , Erich Kleinhempel , Walter Magnussen and Willibald Weingärtner, were brought in for the furniture designs . Gertrud Kleinhempel and Margarete Junge were particularly influential as permanent employees.

Furniture from the workshops for German household goods was shown at the 1904 World Exhibition in St. Louis in the USA and in 1906 at the Third German Applied Arts Exhibition in Dresden, which was central to the reform movement . At the International Hygiene Exhibition in Dresden (1911) , model houses were furnished according to designs by workshop employees. The workshops were among the founding members of the Deutscher Werkbund .

The company appears in the Dresden address book for the last time in 1943/44.

Dresden toys

Between 1902 and 1904 the company also had a range of wooden toys under the name "Dresden Toys". Including a steam roller, a nutcracker "Hofmarschall" and an elephant on wheels. These designs came from the Kleinhempel siblings ( Erich , Gertrud and Fritz Kleinhempel ). The creation of reform toys in Dresden was against the background of the art education movement at the beginning of the 20th century and a deep dissatisfaction with the quality of the then massively industrially produced toys. The aim was to create toys that were simply designed, made of natural materials and stimulating the imagination.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alfred Digit: Furniture making in Dresden - unique and series . In: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden , Kunstgewerbemuseum (Hrsg.): Art Nouveau in Dresden. Departure into the modern age . Edition Minerva, 1999, p. 82 .
  2. ↑ Gertrud Kleinhempel (1875–1948). Professor and Designer. Internet portal Westphalian history. Retrieved December 17, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Urs Latus: Dresden reform toys . In: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden , Kunstgewerbemuseum (Hrsg.): Art Nouveau in Dresden. Departure into the modern age . Edition Minerva, 1999, p. 118-125 .

literature

Web links