Richard Sapper

Richard Sapper (* May 30, 1932 in Munich) is a in Milan, Italy, live German industrial designer. He is considered one of the most important designers of his generation. Its products are characterized by the combination of technical innovation and clarity of form and often contain an element of humor and surprise. Sapper has been honored with numerous international awards, among others, he received ten times the prestigious Compasso d' Oro and the Lucky Strike Award from the Raymond Loewy Foundation. Its products are represented in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA ) in New York and London's Victoria and Albert Museum.

• 7.1 Articles about Richard Sapper
• 7.2 Product Photos

Life

Sapper began his career as a designer in the styling department of Mercedes -Benz. In 1958 he moved to Milan, where he initially the office of the architect Gio Ponti joined and then worked for the design department of the prestigious department store, La Rinascente. 1959 Sapper began his collaboration with the Italian architect and designer Marco Zanuso, which lasted over 18 years until 1977. From 1959 worked Sapper and Zanuso as a consultant for Brionvea, an Italian company, which achieved to compete with well-designed electronic products, with Japanese and German equipment. Together they designed a series of radios and televisions, which have become design icons. Among the most important designs include the rounded, compact and portable Doney 14 (1962 ), the first TV that worked only with transistors, as well as the radio TS502 (1965 ), a rectangular box with hinges, revealing the opening speaker and control buttons. The plastic minimalism of the two designers is evident in the design for the compact Falttelefon Grillo, which they created for Siemens and Italtel in 1965. Grillo was the first phone with a hinged mouthpiece and thus became the forerunner of the clamshell design of today's mobile phones. 1964 Sapper and Zanuso designed the K1340 for Kartell, a very lightweight and stackable children's chair, and the first chair to be made ​​entirely of plastic.

On top of its own independent activity in 1959, Sapper designed the Static table clock for Lorenz, the first Compasso d' Oro prize earned him and still is in production. 1972 Sapper designed the Tizio table lamp for Artemide, one of the first halogen lamps eliminated by their low-voltage current conducting arms the need for cables. The Tizio has become one of the most famous cult objects and remains one of the best selling lamps ever produced. Sapper created further design classics such as the SapperChair office chair series for Walter Knoll in 1979, a stop- watch series for Heuer in 1976, and Nena folding chair for B & B Italia in 1984. In 1978 Alessi Sapper commissioned the first product to make a long series, the espresso machine 9090th followed the kettle Bollitore with two - töniger whistle in 1984, 1990, teapot Bandung, the Coban Espresso machine in 1997, the cheese grater Todo in 2006 and many others. The Cintura di Orione Saucepan series for Alessi in 1986 and 2009, designed in collaboration with chefs such as Roger Verge, Pierre and Michel Troisgros and Alain Chapel.

1980 Sapper was nominated for conducting industrial design consultant at IBM, and thus began the design of numerous laptop computer, including the first ThinkPad ( 700C ) in 1992. Sapper broke with the tradition of pearl gray machines that preferred the company before. Instead, he designed a simple and elegant black rectangular box, inspired by the proportions of a classic cigar box that reveals a surprise when opening: a small red button in the middle of the keyboard that serves as a cursor for the control. Sapper overlooks today the ThinkPad brand as a design consultant for Lenovo, Lenovo 2005 after the PC division of IBM acquired.

Throughout his career, Sapper has shown great interest for transport problems. He has worked with Fiat SpA worked on experimental cars, especially in the development of pneumatic bumpers, and with Pirelli in the development of pneumatic structures. In 1972 he founded with the architect Gae Aulenti a working group for the study of new urban transport systems. He developed this theme in an exhibition at the XVI Triennale in Milan in 1979 on. There he presented a project for a bus for FIAT, which allowed passengers stowing bicycles on a special stand. His interest peaked ( no longer in production) with the design of the push bike. This ultra-lightweight bike was developed with aircraft Technologieen to achieve the desired strength and speed, and which would be fold up like an umbrella at the same time so quick and easy and could thereby easily stowed in a trunk.

To Sappers customers include well-known companies such as Alessi, Artemide, B & B Italia, Castelli, Heuer, IBM, Kartell, Knoll, Lenovo, Lorenz, Magis, Molteni uniforms and Pirelli.

Sapper has lectured at Yale University, the Art Academy in Stuttgart, Peking University, the Royal College of Art in London, the Domus Academy in Milan, the University of Buenos Aires, and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.

Sapper is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in England and a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Germany. 2009, the Design Council Sapper with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a designer and in 2010 awarded Sapper was chosen as the Honorary Doctorate at the University of North Carolina. In 2012 Sapper was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Teaching

Work (selection)

Awards

Richard Sapper's designs have won numerous major international prices. He received a number of Italian design prize Compasso d' Oro (Golden Circle ) and the German iF Product Design Award, twice the German Award for Good Design (1969 and 1983 ), two gold medals of the Biennial of Industrial Design in Ljubljana (1973 and 1979 ) and 1992 the Lucky Strike Designer Award from the Raymond Loewy Foundation. In 2005, his German magazine Architektur & Wohnen granted the title of "Designer of the Year 2005".

2009 was named "Designer - personality " Richard Sapper Design Council as part of the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany. , 2012 with the Order of Merit 1st class of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA ) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art worthy Richard Sapper with the inclusion of some of his designs in its permanent exhibition (see links).