Writing History in Swiss Design: A review of Gestaltung. Werk. Gesellschaft. 100 Jahre Schweizerischer Werkbund SWB

Schlachetzki, Sarah Maria (2014). Writing History in Swiss Design: A review of Gestaltung. Werk. Gesellschaft. 100 Jahre Schweizerischer Werkbund SWB. Architectural Histories. The Open Access Journal of the EAHN, 2(1), p. 5. Ubiquity Press 10.5334/ah.bg

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In Switzerland, where high production costs create a need to market quality design as both a label and an end in itself, industrial design has played a central role in the country’s economic identity. The early protagonists of the Schweizerischer Werkbund (SWB, Swiss Association of Craftsmen) were conscious of this fact when negotiating the entanglements of industrial production and artistic creation. With its foundation in 1913, the SWB was to serve as a platform to discuss the potential and limitations of connections between the two fields. New forms of mass production had become a pressing issue for entrepreneurs, architects, designers, and artists alike. Amidst a cacophony of voices calling for radical change or mourning waning tradition, the SWB realized that joining forces would be to the benefit of everyone. Evoking names such as Max Bill or Lucius Burckhardt, as well as keywords such as Stuttgart Weissenhof or Die gute Form, the SWB mirrors the history of design and architecture in Switzerland. It has been pivotal in debates on how to shape modernity and how to foster ‘good design’ — from the smallest scale of product design to ideological struggles in regional planning.

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