Ingo Maurer has orchestrated almost singlehandedly the phenomenal transformation of lighting into the most innovative interiors medium it is today. Yet this genial creator, known for his low-key attitude and his strong dislike of pretentiousness, is not really a household name outside an elite circle of designers. Anyone who learns about Ingo Maurer’s extraordinary work is always left wondering why so many people still haven’t heard of him.
His first influential design, Bulb, appeared on the market in 1966. He reinvented the ubiquitous light bulb by shaping it into a slick chromium and glass table lamp in its own right. He was the first to use low-voltage track lighting as well as dimming technology. He also pioneered the use of LED technology (previously available in car dash displays) for domestic lighting.
Ingo Maurer is always looking for new ideas. Asked about where he works on his designs and projects, he joyfully answers: “In the bath tub, in my car, in the kitchen. At the beginning it is a sort of perception...one is always pregnant with ideas.”
He is 74 years old, yet his amazingly fresh outlook on life surpasses even that of younger designers. An ebullient mind and a creative spirit coupled with an infectious joie de vivre and a legendary humor help him produce a constant flow of new things: “I create certain objects because they allow me to express my drives which is necessary for me,” he says.
His latest interest is in the OLED, a razor-thin liquid crystal light-emitting diode, which opens new decorative lighting perspectives such as fluid wall panels or paper-thin designs almost 1.5mm thick — in short, promising future technology.
It is difficult to classify Maurer’s work. His style defies all labels and categories. His designs, more sculpture than lighting, are absolutely unique. Lucellino (Little Bird) produced in 1992 is a bulb adorned with two hand-crafted goose feather wings attached to it so the bulb seems to be flying away from its base. Zettel’z is a lamplight chandelier made of squares of Japanese paper held by mini-clips fixed on metal fronds onto which one can write one’s thoughts among those already supplied. The Porca Miseria is another amazing chandelier of broken plates and crockery whose proceeds benefit an Egyptian family in Aswan whom he is taking care of.
Maurer feels strongly that it is essential for him to be generous with both money and time. He strongly believes it is his duty to pass on his knowledge to younger designers. He wants to help them break the academic mold they are living in as a result of their studies. He assists them in what he calls “the unlearning process” so they can make a personal contribution in the competitive world of design. He criticizes the increasing manufacturing of objects in which one does not feel the presence of the designer behind the work. He also feels that the latest generation of creative designers “is too self-assured. I am perennially in doubt. I think that insecurity is an important starting point,” he says.
His approach to lighting combines high technology and exquisite craftsmanship with art and poetry.
It reflects his deep feeling for lighting. Maurer acknowledges that lighting has a spiritual quality which affects the way we live: “Most people live in bad light. Most people aren’t sensitive to the realization that a lot of their sadness could be taken away if they addressed the lighting at home. People buy for the shape but the quality is more important — that it doesn’t give you glare, that it makes you feel comfortable. You just cannot buy a lamp for its shape.
You can make people mad or make people happy with lighting,” he explains.
His work has been compared to haute couture or fine art: Few may appreciate it and few can afford it; however, its influence has reached global magnitude.
His original ideas are being produced in a diluted form for mass consumption, an area he has always shunned personally. He admits he has never been interested in marketing his products. Ingo Maurer has always preferred to invent new things. The driving reason behind the many commissions he is given on a regular basis. His one-of-a-kind lightings are passionately sought after by a growing number of private collectors.
Although Ingo Maurer has no intention of retiring, he does want to take things a bit easier. At the same time, his genius is getting worldwide recognition. His latest award is an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art and last September he received the prestigious Abitare Il Tempo design award in Italy.
His anti conformist attitude has spawned a wave of humorous provocation, kitsch and fun in the world of design largely dominated by middle-class borgeois taste which Maurer finds “so boring.” He comes up with ideas nobody has ever thought about. He thinks the unthinkable and gives it a shape in the form of lighting.
Born on the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance, Maurer works in Munich but his dream is to live on the Nile and his favorite name is the Arabic form of the word for light “Noura.”
