Designing for Socialist Need
Industrial Design Practice in the German Democratic Republic
Routledge Research in Architecture Series

How does industrial design operate outside of capitalist consumer culture? Designing for Socialist Need assembles a detailed picture of industrial design practice in the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR). Drawing on much previously unexplored material from a wide variety of sources, it not only maps out some of the ideological, institutional and economic contexts within which GDR design functioned, it also critically reconstructs the designers? aims and perspectives in order to argue that they shared a profoundly socially responsible approach to design. By focusing on their ideas and approaches, this volume attends to the previously unacknowledged intellectual and practical richness of GDR design culture and demonstrates that it can provide pertinent insights not only for scholars of GDR history or German design, but also for contemporary design practitioners, theorists and educators with an interest in sustainability in design.

List of figures

Acknowledgements

List of abbreviations

Introduction

Part 1 – The fundamentals of GDR design

1 – Aims and priorities

2 – Institutional support

Part 2 – Exemplary ideas and practices

3 – Designing for complex functionality

4 – Designing for appropriate product lifespans

5 – Designing systems

Part 3 – Resistance encountered by GDR designers

6 – Cultural-political resistance

7 – Obstacles in the spheres of production and distribution

Conclusion

Index

Katharina Pfützner is Lecturer in Industrial Design at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland, where she also contributes to undergraduate and postgraduate programs at the school’s Faculty of Visual Culture. Her primary interest is in socially responsible design. She has a background in design practice and a PhD in design history. Her research on design in the GDR has been presented in numerous conference papers and publications.