Good, better, timeless

Prof Karl Clauss Dietel

For Professor Karl Clauss Dietel, it's time to organise, sort and label. He is archiving his collection consisting of models, objects, design and model sketches, photos and documents. The more than 50 pieces, dating from the early 1960s to the 2000s, will soon become the property of the city of Chemnitz. This was decided by the city council at the end of last year. Not only a belated birthday present for the 85-year-old, but also a gift for the people of Chemnitz. Because Karl Clauss Dietel is one of the best-known and most important German designers.

In September 2014, you received the highest German award in the field of design from the Federal Ministry of Economics. Five years later, the city council decided to buy your collection. What is more important to you personally?
Karl Clauss Dietel: This award surprised me in 2014. I said at the time - and I mean this very seriously - that I accepted this award on behalf of all those who worked in design here in the East or in the former GDR, sometimes under very difficult conditions. We often had visionary ideas, many of which could not be realised.
I have lived in Chemnitz for 58 years and have known the city for over 80 years. I was still in the undestroyed Chemnitz with my parents and despite many dark years and bitter times, I now know as an old person that the industrial culture of Chemnitz and West Saxony is unique and very significant for Germany. German industrialisation began here 220/225 years ago. As a Chemnitz resident, you can be proud of that. Therefore, as small as it is, I hope to be able to make a modest contribution to this with my collection. It is very important to me that I can also hand over designs that were created for Trabant successors, for example, that were never built, or three generations of lorries that were never built either. The realised and the failed are part of it. I designed HELIRADIO devices, TRABANT successors and SIMSON mopeds from the S50 onwards together with Lutz Rudolph.

Prof Karl Clauss Dietel was active in many areas of everyday life. His products were found in almost every household in the GDR: from the spherical loudspeaker box and the legendary "Erika" typewriter to Simson mopeds, designs for Trabants and Wartburgs, radios, doors and benches. Today, his work can be seen in major museums such as the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, the Haus der Geschichte in Bonn and the Grassi Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig. And soon in Chemnitz too. The art collections and the Museum of Industry have secured his collection. Value: 64,000 euros.

If you could make a wish, how would you present your collection? As an exhibition, perhaps?
Of course, like everyone who hands something over, I hope that something can be presented. That would be my wish. I am constantly asked where my things can be seen.

Born in Reinholdshain, which is now part of Glauchau, the 85-year-old trained as a mechanical fitter there and studied at the Zwickau School of Automotive Engineering and the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art. He worked as a designer for Fahrzeugbau Karl-Marx-Stadt until 1963, since when he has worked freelance. He taught at the Burg Giebichenstein School of Industrial Design and at the College of Applied Arts in Schneeberg, where he was director from 1986 to 1990.

When did you decide to become a designer?
After the war, I was categorised as the son of an entrepreneur and wasn't allowed to go to grammar school. That's why I first learnt a trade, which wasn't a mistake. If I had gone to a grammar school, I would certainly have wanted to become an architect. At the engineering college in Zwickau, the bodywork engineering programme was introduced at the time. I enrolled there immediately. These engineers were employed at the interface between product and mould design. I was immediately interested and so I studied mould design in Berlin for another five years.

In retrospect, do you regret never becoming an architect?
No. I learnt architecture and studied with Bauhäusler. Studying with Bauhaus students was always interdisciplinary. That's why I later designed visual communication, signets and posters. After the political change, I did a lot of environmental design, including colour and graphic concepts, designing social facilities for Porsche Stuttgart, VW halls in Bratislava, Mosel and Hanover. Today I still work for companies in the Ore Mountains and have designed for the Bethanien clinics. There is no disciplinary restriction for me. Everything that is visually and aesthetically important is a topic for me. I also take a critical look at urban development, which is why I am active in the "Stadtforum" group. We advise the urban developers and get involved. I'm just as interested in music and literature, theatre and, of course, free art.

Speaking of art: you bought the first painting by the artist Michael Morgner?
Yes, as a freelance artist you don't earn money on a regular basis. But I liked Michael Morgner right from the start, just like the painter Peter Graf. I studied with him in Berlin. Also with Georg Kern, who then called himself Baselitz.

Do you have a favourite piece in your collection?
I get asked that all the time. Historians now say that our HELIRADIO rk5 with the two spheres is a classic. One of the biggest European newspapers wrote five years ago that there are now more Simson mopeds on the roads throughout Germany than there were at the time of reunification. One reason for this: my "open principle". Individual components are visible and can be repaired or replaced without having to throw away the entire product. Another reason: many things are still collected. The Simson two-wheelers, but also radios and typewriters. These days, hardly anyone actually needs the latter in functional terms.

The sustainability of the "open principle" is more important than ever in view of today's disposable products.
This is not just the case today. I was one of the first to criticise the American "styling" principle 60 years ago in my dissertation. After that, an American scientist published the book "Planned Obsolescence". Planned obsolescence, so that things can be thrown away and greater profit can be made. Visual aesthetics are used in a negative sense to artificially age things in a fashionable way. That was always a red rag for me. That's why I invented "second-hand patina" 50 years ago. That, for example, 80 or 120 year old chairs do not deteriorate through use, but are ennobled like a pair of jeans.
In addition to the "open principle", there are also "the big five Ls". Products should be easy to live with, lightweight, light, durable and quiet. Just take a look at our world: Cars are getting bigger and bigger, heavier and heavier, unchangeable. That is technocracy. We live in a highly capitalist world. Some say it's the late phase of capitalism. It's not the world I would have wanted to work for. But I have to move in this world and have always tried to make things that represent an alternative within the limits of what is feasible.

Do you still accept design commissions today?
Yes, for example for the ball fountain that was torn away. I want to create a light object from the remaining spheres.

The spherical fountain was created by Prof Karl Clauss Dietel and Reinhard Grütz in 1974. 30 spheres stood on stainless steel columns in a fountain in the Yorck area.

Has Chemnitz always inspired you in your work?
I spent dark, bitter years here in Chemnitz. I took the risk of being one of the first freelancers. My so-called first studio on Uhlandstraße was very small. I was able to buy my great-aunt's house very late in life. The other thing was that after a very good phase in the 1960s, the structures changed, right up to the party structures. These then paramilitary economic structures tried to eliminate all freelancers. There was resistance from the artists' association. I became the fiercest opponent there and then resigned as one of the association's vice presidents in protest in 1981. Resignations are a matter of course in a democratically organised society, but that didn't happen in the GDR. That's why the usual surveillance by the State Security Service intensified in 1981. Because of my resignation and because of my connection to my colleagues in the Clara Mosch artists' group. When I had good friends over and we wanted to discuss something important, we went to the Zeisigwald. My life in the GDR was somewhere between resistance and adaptation.

Did you toy with the idea of leaving?
The question comes up again and again. I say to everyone in response to this question: if everyone had left, there wouldn't have been the change that came from within. Those who left were not in a position to trigger processes in the GDR from the outside. But inside, hundreds of thousands of people were involved in the process of bringing about change. At first it wasn't about German unity, but about overcoming the existing GDR as it was. It was about emancipation and something independent.

Prof Karl Clauss Dietel played a key role in shaping East German design for decades. His works also adorn Chemnitz: SchmidtBank Passage, the Industrial Museum, Bethanien Hospital, the municipal swimming pool - to name just a few. He even planted trees in the Yorck area. "That was illegal," laughs Dietel. "At the beginning of the 1970s, there was a plan for the green design of the 'former turning loop' area. When it was finished, everything was left lying around. I didn't like that. So I dug up trees from my aunt's garden and planted them. Today they are standing there tall."

Your works can be found in Munich, Hanover, Dresden and Leipzig. Do you feel like an ambassador for the city?
A little bit. For example, after a recent lecture in Switzerland, there was a long discussion about cars. The conclusion afterwards: We need to visit Chemnitz. Last February, they awarded me the "Golden Steering Wheel" in Prague. Three years ago, I was invited to an exhibition in Bratislava. You can see from these things that interest from outside is increasing.

Your expertise is highly valued in the city. As a member of the jury, you were involved in the decision on the market fountain. What do you think of the result afterwards?
We chose something very interesting from the relatively large selection: nothing traditional, very unconventional. It was also absolutely right that the national tender became a European tender.

You said: "If you don't move mentally, if you're not open to what was, is and will be, you give up and you shouldn't do that". Do you still have goals?
I can only hope to stay reasonably healthy at my age. Because I still have some plans. The collection, for example. That's a lot of work. The exhibits and models have been inspected by experts. Now I still have to sort through the drawings. I'm also supposed to take part in exhibitions, in German-German projects that travel internationally. I get enquiries all the time, I'm travelling a lot. Sometimes I'm sorry that I can't reply straight away.

We want to be European Capital of Culture in 2025, how do you see our chances?
Far away from the decision-making bodies, I can't judge the chances. But I think the intention to apply is very good. The application has already triggered a lot. That's excellent, especially in terms of Chemnitz's self-confidence. That can only be a good thing.