Google finds around 10 billion results for “design.” The word “design” has become inflationary, used in all areas of life. In the German-speaking world, “design” originally referred to the creation of objects for everyday use. Today, this discipline is called “product design.” The designers of the objects presented here are all trained product designers. They take advantage of the opportunity to give free rein to their creativity alongside their everyday work – free from economic and production constraints. In this way, objects are created in small editions or as one-offs. Supported and mediated by gallery owners, these objects find their way to a steadily growing community of collectors.
Since the 1990s, the term “design art” attempts to categorize this kind of design. It is, however, controversial and heavily debated among experts. How should one classify these works? As art or as design? They are often produced by hand or with the help of innovative means of production by the designers themselves or under their strict supervision. Experimentation with form, material, and production methods often results in something unique. Thanks to unconventional, novel ideas, traditional manufacturing methods are being questioned, and new technologies are paving the way for series production.
As a passionate collector, I am interested in exceptional design objects from the 1990s to today. It all started with a few chairs. But not chairs to sit on, but chairs that could also be described as sculptures. As a private collector, I can choose according to my personal preferences and do not have to subordinate myself to curatorial criteria; liking comes before didacticism. Since I present my objects on pedestals, I like to refer to them as “Stand Art.”
The online book “Stand Art” is a documentation of Hans Ulrich Maurer’s design collection. It contains short biographies of the designers, information about the objects and personal comments.
