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Ingo Maurer was born in 1932, at the Bodensee on the island of Reichenau. He completed his training as a typographer in Switzerland and Germany.
Following his 4 year graphic studies from 1954 to 1958 in Munich, he immigrated to the USA in 1960, and worked as a freelancer in New York and San Francisco. In 1963 he returned to Europe and founded the DESIGN M in 1966.
His first lamp received the name BULP, and was created for a client in a cellar room with a few others in 1969. The first exhibition fair he participated in with his lamps was a total success. The small series BULP grabbed international interest and found many buyers and, consequently was taken up in the Museum of Modern Arts Design Collection. From 1967 on, classic lamps with feet and shades formed the collections basis for following innovations.
In 1968 three employees were working on the Ingo-Maurer-lamps and the first Italian exhibition fair proved another grand success. And for the first time the press also became aware of him.
The company expanded. The cellar rooms became too small, due to the 12 employees that were working there between 1969 and 1972. He supported the lamp LIGHT STRUCTURE as a co-designer. Eventually they moved rooms.
As natural materials came into fashion, he imported fans of bamboo and rice paper from Japan to make his lamps with until 1978. With 25 employees and numerous helpers, he was the only lamp designer to celebrate the 100th Birthday of the light bulb in 1979, with his light object THOMAS ALVA EDISON, a homage to the inventor of the light bulb- Edison. In 1980 he took over the licence rights for the DELIGHT-designs by Nieuwenborg and Wegmann, also lamp designers.
In cooperation with Franz Ringelhan, the first low voltage system using low voltage technology was realised.
In 1984, as the company fought for its survival, as financial reserves had been used up by investments and new developments, a saviour was found in the low voltage system YaYaHo, which was introduced in September of the same year at the Milan fair. From 1985 on, the YaYaHo-wire system exceeded the capacities of all 25 full-time workers and all day-helps.
Every pessimist was silenced. The innovative wire system was installed in the Centre Georges Pompidou for the exhibition LUMIERES JE PENSE A VOUS. In 1986/87 three further exhibitions followed in Rome, Helsinki, Madrid, Los Angeles and Barcelona. In 1988 the lamp LITTLE BLACK NOTHING was put on the market.
Lamps were put into the exhibition DESIGN HEUTE in the German Museum of Architecture, Frankfurt/Main. Own exhibitions followed in the Fondation Cartier pour l`art contemporain in Jouey-en-Josas in Paris and Leningrad UDSSR. In this time Ingo Maurer developed the electronic Touch-Tronic-Transformer: lamps which can be turned on and off or dimmed by touch.
The number of employees rose to 36, plus additional part-time helpers. In 1990 the project department started work. Here, every year new lamps and lighting systems are developed, to supplement the existing collection.
The lamps became more artistic. Finally, in 1998 the new generation of lamps, THE MAMO NOUCHIES, were presented and Ingo Maurer was awarded DESIGNER OF THE YEAR 1997 from the magazine ARCHITEKUR & WOHNEN. Since 1999, the Ingo-Maurer-team has been experimenting with LED-technology and impresses with never seen lamps, which are also available in the Proformshop. Especially notable is the table with LED-technology. The fashion designer Issey Miyake asked for special effects for his fashion show in La Vilette.
For the city of Cologne, he developed a light event in the space beneath the Deutzer bridge. In the year 2001 he lit a party in the Alhambra Theatre in New York.
Ongoing work can be seen at the Atomium in Bielefeld, but also in their own show room in New York. Ingo Mauer was named Royal Designer of Industry in 2005 with an honorary title.
Show and order products from Ingo Maurer
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