Ingo Maurer. The magician of the symphony of light

/ Decor /

On October 21, the German designer Ingo Maurer passed away, whose unexpected, childishly mischievous handling of such a delicate instrument as light won him universal love and the unspoken title of "poet of light."

Maurer was born during the brief lull between the two world wars, in 1932, on the island of Reichenau in the middle of Lake Constance. He himself came from a large family and remembered his childhood like this: "I thought of myself as a weed. I just grew up, because the weeds always make their way. Because of the war, I only went to school for six years. That's all."

Ingo Maurer, 2015. Portrait: Tom Vack

The son of a simple fisherman, he first learned the skills of a typewriter, and then decided to study advertising graphics in Munich. "Actually, at first I was engaged in graphics: I studied graphic design and then worked in printing houses for several years. The idea of ​​the lamp came to me somehow suddenly, and then other ideas, and more. But I did not sell my inventions. What I did immediately was to create my company for the production of lamps. This is how the history of Ingo Maurer GmbH began." And he founded it in 1960, when he returned after three years of living in the USA, spent between New York and San Francisco.

Bulb lamp, 1966

Maurer admired the creative genius of Thomas Edison, so the main character of his works is an ordinary naked light bulb. We, for one, fell in love with Ingo when we saw his touching Jonny B. Butterfly on a string, with "butterflies" unexpectedly landing on it. And his first tribute to the famous inventor was the Bulb lamp — a kind of light bulb in a light bulb that plays the role of a table lamp.

"I want people to simply experience my objects and not analyze them in any way"

Johnny B. Butterfly lamp, Teflon "shade", handmade insect models, 2011.

Later, he will begin to attach wings to them, tie bright bottles, wrap them in rice paper, hang them with porcelain Buddha heads, tubes of toothpaste or sheets with the inscriptions "I love you" in different languages, and also put them in metal cages with "rats" and even will "dip" into the can of Campbell's soup sung by Vorgol. In his hands, a simple electric light bulb turned into an ironic, funny sculpture that evokes genuine childlike admiration.

"Being original is easy if you follow your heart's calling. The best light comes simply from the soul itself"

Campari Light pendant light with 10 removable original Campari soda bottles, 2002.

"At the beginning of my activity, I worked a lot on the shape of lamps. This can be seen even in one of my first works — Bulb, which appeared in 1966. Later, while inventing lamps, I realized that light itself is much more important than form, because light is a unique phenomenon on which the existence of all living things and simply our well-being depends. Since I realized this, I began to strive in my creativity for the harmonious combination of light and form in lamp models."

I Ricchi Poveri lamp - Toto, steel, lacquered brass, low-voltage halogen lamp, 2014.

"As a child, I wanted to be a juggler or a tightrope walker. Balance is as important as gameplay. My dream was that the local circus in Bavaria would accept me into its troupe. And they also say that he avoided the color red in clothes, loved beautiful women, Latin American music, fiery salsa and the novels of Gabriel García Márquez. When his Bulb turned half a century old, he reissued it in a limited edition, decorating it with a quote from his favorite writer in Spanish.

Breaking Buddha chandelier made of broken porcelain heads of a smiling Buddha. Photo: Tom Vack

Behind his creative "wildness" and "frivolity" hide high-tech solutions that he has been developing for more than fifty years together with his faithful team of 70 people at his factory. Bulb immediately entered the collection of MoMA in New York. With the Ya Ya Ho installation at the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris in 1985, made of ordinary cable and halogen lamps, he introduced the so-called string lights into vogue. Maurer conceptualized lighting design, always being the first to adapt the latest technical innovations. No one experimented so much with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) before they became a trend, and no one was so excited about their organic version (OLED).

The YaYaHo low-voltage lighting system being modeled, 1984.

He was fascinated by the magic of light, so he enthusiastically worked on large-scale light installations that fantastically beautifully transform space. For example, he decorated with light the catwalk for Issey Miyake's shows, the atrium of the famous Galeries Lafayette in Paris, the Velasque Tower in Milan, not to mention the annual author's exhibitions during the days of the Milan Furniture Salon. "Light affects us and our feelings in a supernatural way. By changing the lighting in the room, you can greatly change the entire space. Light has a huge potential, it has hundreds of possibilities to transform the environment into something new."

If you find yourself on the Munich subway, be sure to get off at the Westfriedhof station, even if you don't need to go there. Back in 1995, Maurer decorated her lobby with huge dome lamps with a diameter of almost four (!) meters. They glow in different colors, due to which the space around is filled with an inexplicable warm magic. By the way, the lighting design of Moosfeld, Münchner Freiheit stations and, finally, the red-hot Marienplatz is also the work of Ingo.

Westfriedhof station in the Munich metro. Lamp design — Ingo Maurer, 1995.

"My heroes are Achille Castiglioni and Vico Magistretti. They dared a lot and made a huge breakthrough. I also love what Isamu Noguchi does. His Japanese paper lanterns are simply gorgeous! And, of course, Gaetano Pesce. I really like his ideas."

Kokoro lamp, which resembles a graceful dancer. Red paper, metal, stainless steel, glass, plastic, mirror, 1998.

Maurer worked until the last day. "When I founded the company, I took on a lot of responsibility for these people, so I want to support and promote the company as long as possible. After that, they will have to do without me, but I am more than sure that they will manage."

Ingo's latest installation, Residenztheater, Munich, 2019.

His last installation, an elongated chandelier made of more than 3000 silver-plated leaves, was completed on October 18, a few days before his death. It was installed in the restored Residenztheater, adjacent to the Munich Residence, and it illuminates the "Wintergarten" (Wintergarten), a room that is used both as a cafe and as a place with a view of the Max Josef Square.

Ingo Maurer, 2019. Photo: Ingo Maurer GmbH

The master is gone, and now they really have to do without him. We will have his childish mischievous works, poetic artistic images filled with the light of his soul.

 

Photos courtesy of Ingo Maurer GmbH