Willy Guhl

Robert Haussmann (left) and Willy Guhl, 1951

Willy Guhl (born July 6, 1915 in Stein am Rhein ; † October 4, 2004 in Hemishofen ) was a Swiss furniture designer, product designer and interior designer.

Life

After primary school in Stein am Rhein, Guhl trained as a cabinet maker from 1930 to 1933. With a scholarship for the best degree, he was then able to study at the Zurich School of Applied Arts in the class of Wilhelm Kienzle until 1938 . In 1939 he founded his own studio in Zurich.

In 1943 Guhl co-founded the Association of Swiss Interior Architects (VSI) and in 1966 the Association of Swiss Industrial Designers (SID). From 1941 to 1980 he taught at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich , of which he was director from 1951. There, the establishment of the specialist class for product design, one of the few relevant training centers in Switzerland, began in 1971.

His interest in industrial production and new production methods repeatedly brought him into contact with industry, and in 1959 the School of Applied Arts also worked with her for the first time on the occasion of the horticultural exhibition on the basis of his initiative. His collaboration with Eternit (Schweiz) AG , the furniture manufacturer Dietiker + Co and the agricultural machinery manufacturer Aebi ; As an important representative of Swiss neofunctionalism , Willy Guhl became particularly well known for the creation of a beach chair made from an Eternit strip ; this chair is still manufactured in a version modified by Guhl in 1998.

literature

• Andrea Weibel : Willy Guhl. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . March 16, 2006 .
• Lotte Schilder Bär: Willy Guhl . In: Isabelle Rucki and Dorothee Huber (eds.): Architectural Lexicon of Switzerland - 19./20. Century Basel: Birkhäuser 1998. p. 234. ISBN 3-7643-5261-2

Web links

Commons : Willy Guhl  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• "The beautiful loop - Willy Guhl's Eternit chair" , in NZZ Folio 10/01

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obituary on swissinfo.ch