Hermann Gretsch (1895 - 1950) designer for Arzberg

Hermann Gretsch (1895 – 1950) was a German architect, engineer and product designer.

Arzberg

In the 1930s, Gretsch worked for the Porzellanfabrik Arzberg. This German ceramics manufacturer is perhaps most widely recognized in the history of design for its clearly articulated, undecorated, yet distinctive white designs by Gretsch, the 1382 tableware service of 1931. Considered a 20th-century classic, Model 1382 was produced by Arzberg and was a synthesis of his design approach and theories.

These domestic icons of German Modernism embraced the progressive aesthetic spirit pursued by many designers associated with the Deutscher Werkbund, the Bauhaus, and the progressive municipal authorities in the mid‐1920s Frankfurt and Stuttgart, symbolically embracing the Modernist maxim of ‘form follows function.

Works

Hermann Gretsch. Dinnerware set. c. 1948 | MoMA

Form 1382 | Gretsch, Hermann | V&A Search the Collections

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/317X5Pi

Woodham, J. M. (2006). A dictionary of modern design. Oxford University Press. https://amzn.to/3FQyWLO

Additional Reading

Bareham, L. (2013). The Trifle Bowl and Other Tales. Bantam. https://amzn.to/3E3WOv8

Betts, P. (2007). The Authority of Everyday Objects: A Cultural History of West German Industrial Design. University of California Press. https://amzn.to/3E6QV0m

Marchand, S. L. (2020). Porcelain: A History from the Heart of Europe. Princeton University Press. https://amzn.to/3o4173O

Margolin, V. (2018). The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design and Design Studies. University of Chicago Press. https://amzn.to/3E3u9GB

Woodham, J. M., M, J., & Woodham, D. D. H. R. C. J. M. (1997). Twentieth Century Design. OUP Oxford. https://amzn.to/3E5qDvd

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