Walter Maria Kersting

Walter Maria Kersting, often Walter M. Kersting ( born July 8, 1889 in Münster ( Westphalia ), † May 5, 1970 in Waging am See ) was a German architect and industrial designer.

Life and work

Kersting published in 1928, the picture book for merchants, a promotional booklet that many designed by him and his wife catalogs, posters and packaging presented in simple, factual style. He was from 1927 to 1932 professor of artistic and technical design at the Cologne factory schools. Kersting has created with his students, the prototype of the bakelite housing of Volksempfanger VE 301, presented at the Berlin Radio Exhibition 1933 and later because of the distinctive shape and high volume became the most popular furniture item during the Nazi period. After the Second World War Kersting founded together with his sons Gerwald and the Arno Kersting model building workshops in Waging (Upper Bavaria). From this it was, among other things, designed by his son Arno Kersting T & N Telephone forth with the first made ​​of a thermoplastic phone housing. In 1964, examples of his work at the documenta III in Kassel in the Department of Industrial Design were shown.

On the Export Fair 1948, Kersting before the well first draft of a model railway in scale 1:180, which, however, never went into production. In addition to his achievements in industrial design Kersting, therefore, is also considered a pioneer of the popular model railway track which later became N in scale 1:160.