Karl Schmidt-Hellerau
Camillo Karl Schmidt -Hellerau ( born 1 February 1873 in Zschopau, † November 6, 1948 in Hellerau ) was a carpenter, furniture manufacturer, social reformer and founder of the first German garden city, Hellerau.
Life
After his apprenticeship as a carpenter in his hometown of Karl Schmidt worked ( the composite name Schmidt -Hellerau it took until 1938 to ) as a journeyman in German and northern European cities, including in England, where he met the automated mass production of furniture using series components.
In 1898, Karl Schmidt founded in Dresden- Laubegast his own carpentry and furniture factory, the "Dresden Workshops, Art Schmidt & Engelbrecht " ( from 1899 " ... Schmidt & Miller" ). He was a supporter of the Reform Movement. This was reflected, among other things reflected that in his factory, there was a warm tone and that Karl Schmidt tried to educate his workers and cultural arts and crafts. Due to its aesthetic and craft ideas he was called " wood - Goethe ".
For the design of its furniture series and use against states he dedicated artists and craftsmen. The artists were pro rata share in the profits and their names were specified in the product catalogs, both of which at that time represented a novelty. Among other things, he collaborated with internationally known artists such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott. Since 1902 he also collaborated with the Munich artist and architect Richard Riemerschmid. He later married his sister.
On the German Art Exhibition, which took place in 1899 at the Municipal Exhibition Palace in Dresden, presented Schmidt complete living facilities before, and the only plant in Dresden his workshops were then invited to the 1900 World Fair in Paris, where their reform furniture has received three bronze medals.
In 1904 and 1905 Richard Riemerschmid machines designed furniture - modern and functional designed furniture, the design and function with respect to a machine just producing exemplary combined with each other. The furniture was composed of a number of typed elements, they were combined in many ways and could be produced in large quantities. " Dresdner home device" called the program. The furniture could be disassembled and reassembled easily, so they could be transported space saving to the customers and also sent. From 1912/1913 type furniture designs were supplemented by other artists, and has since offered under the program name " Deutsches Haus device".
In 1907, his operation ended with the Munich workshops for home furnishings (Karl Bertsch, Adelbert Niemeyer, Willy Beckerath ) together, and the new company was German workshops for craftsmanship GmbH called (1913 converted into a public limited company ). In order to optimize the production, a new factory was planned. To motivate the employees more, they should be located near the new plant and have better living conditions than usual at that time. The result was the establishment of the first German garden city, Hellerau, a reform settlement on the northern outskirts of Dresden.
Schmidt was inspired by the ideas of life reform, the English Arts and Crafts movement and founded by Ebenezer Howard Garden city movement. The purchase of land for factory and residential new construction took place in 1906 and the design phase began in the same year. Schmidt commissioned Richard Riemerschmid to design a master plan for the development. In June 1909 the ground was broken. In 1910 was produced in the newly built German Workshops for craftsmanship Hellerau, and the first inhabitants settled in Hellerau.
Karl Schmidt is also one of the initiators and founders of the company founded in 1907 Deutscher Werkbund.
Other important furniture developments were in 1926/27, the type of furniture program " The cheap apartment " ( design by the Stuttgart architect Adolf Gustav Schneck ) and 1935, the modular furniture program "The growing apartment " by Bruno Paul, which was produced even after World War II to about 1958.
Quote
Karl Schmidt in " Open Letter to Artists ," Dresdner Workshops, Art, Dresden, 1898: create ... "We want ... room facilities, which are not calculated on the hollow sham, and not the rich and the Magnificent imitate with insufficient funds in an unsound manner ... We create furniture that is designed so that each domestic appliance just serves its purpose in the best way and its purpose expresses in its form. "
Karl Schmidt in the " Yearbook of the German Werkbund ," Jena, 1912: " It is strange how difficult the simple fact is understood, namely, that the raw material - and of course with it the object produced therefrom - the cheapest is, if it's good and is processed conscientiously. When we process wood furniture ... trash, we sin against us on a natural product. The earth gives forth raw materials only in limited quantities. Consume we can grow as much material as the earth every year, so we will do the materials have a moderate normal price; we could process less, would drop by strong offer price; we consume but more so the price goes up in proportion to the increased consumption. Not only that we ensure that the goods become more expensive, but we also live at the expense of our children and grandchildren. It is a sin and shame to do so. "
Peter de Mendelssohn in " Hellerau, my captive Europe " about Karl Schmidt: "In the beginning was a man named Schmidt. If you find this blasphemous occurs, the need not continue, because it is not already understand what this is. I know, however, that it is true. Schmidt was a creator. Without him it would have nothing, absolutely nothing given of what will be told here. "