This article appeared in Dialogue, December 2002, No. 65.
Ingo Maurer was born in 1932 on the island of Rechenau, Lake Constance, Germany. He was trained as a typographer in Germany and in Switzerland and later studied graphic design. In 1960 he moved to the United States and worked as a freelance designer in New York and San Francisco. In 1963 Maurer moved back to Germany and founded the studio, Design M, later renamed Ingo Maurer GmbH. Since then he has designed many poetic and vibrant light fixtures, including the iconic Bulb, YaYaHo, Lucellino, and MaMo Nouchies. Many of his designs are in the design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Besides working on the design of individual fixtures, Maurer often collaborates with architects and designers such as Jean Nouvel, Ron Arad, and Issey Myake, on installations, architecture, and “urban scenography” projects.
MF How did you become a lighting designer after studying to be a typographer and graphic designer? Are there similar characteristics between lighting and graphic design?
IM Normally a person think that I will become this, or I will become that. However, I am a strong believer that chance is more the rule rather than the exception. My attraction for lighting, after being a typographer, was probably due to the surroundings of my childhood. I grew up in Lake Constance on an island. My father was a fisherman and later became an inventor. So I had lots of experience with light on the lake. As a child I was often daydreaming and observing. Perception is very important. I knew I had certain sensibility to look at light. By chance, I started to make light. It was in Venice, again a place with water and light. I was staying in a cheap pensione and noticed the bare light bulb. Somehow I thought the light bulb was the most beautiful object in the world; it is both poetic and industrial. I wanted to make a little monument to this beauty. I made a big light bulb with a regular light bulb inside. Some people saw the fixture and asked me if they can buy one. At that time I was struggling and already had two children to support. I figured this may be a good side business and that’s how I started.
MF The Bulb you made in 1966 reminds me of the works by Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. You also seem to be interested in ideas about iconography and every day objects. What sort of influence did Pop art have on you? Were there specific artists that interested you more than others?
IM When I lived in America, it was the time when Andy Warhol started to make his marks with things like the Campbell soup cans. America was extremely good for me. Europeans often think that they are the only culture in the world. American has developed its own culture. I am very much for being completely open to all cultures. In many ways, America opened me up and it still does. Everyday I am in New York, I am grateful. The city doesn’t necessarily stimulate me more than other places but it says, “Do it.” I am not concentrated on profit, but I manage to get through life. I have a lot of fun and pain because I have enjoyed quite a bit of freedom.
But to go back to your question, let me say I don’t really like to analyze my process or my work. If I start to analyze, I don’t have the joy or the pain of creating something. I prefer a state of sub consciousness where things just happen. Of course, I do a lot of things that are kind of sketchy. To maintain that quality in the finish product is very difficult.
MF Perhaps you can tell us how you typically work. I understand that you have a rather large company in Munich. What is the process of developing a new product?
IM The process is I come up with an idea and put it out of my brain. Then I suffer for a while; sometimes I go for years and years before I can put something together. Then the right time arrives and I say, “O.K., let’s do it.” I would then make a little sketch and a little rough model. I show them to one or two people in my team. First, I have to be able to express to my team the idea of what I want, which is difficult enough. Members of my team have their own thoughts; each brain works a little differently. Often when they start developing the project, they go off in the wrong direction. But I don’t stop them. If I stop them in the beginning then they won’t get deep into the project. Don’t forget that I still have to pay them, but I think it is worthwhile. In the end, I can always pull them back. I try to make my team to be a part of me; I don’t operate like a dictator. It is important for me to stay open, be fearless, and to always be able to accept a better idea. My team is mostly engaged on the technical rather than aesthetics issues. Unlike some of my colleagues in the design field who never mention their collaborators, we always work as a team. Also unlike some other designers who only designs, we manufacture our designs.
MF It is almost as if you encourage people to improvise.
IM I also like very much to allow the customers of the final products to be able to have some input on the design. For instance, the owner of the YaYaHo can move the lamps around. This is important to me because I don’t like things to be fixated, nor do I like to make monuments to beauty. Perhaps it is just my nature, but things have to have some emotional qualities. However, you can’t plan those qualities; you have to find ways to allow them to happen.
MF Speaking of YaYaHo, how did you come up with that design?
IM I was spending New Years Eve in Tahiti with some friends. We went out dancing late that night at a club. We left the club in the morning, just about when the sun was rising. I was in a small piazza where there were two wires extended across the space. There was a huge light bulb, maybe three thousand watts, just soldered onto the wire without a socket. Again, I was in awe of the light bulb. I thought it was incredible and if we could only make it safe then we can use it. I came back to New York and stretched two wires across my loft to start trying. Then I had no time to work on the design but I always kept the idea in my mind. Eventually, we took three years to develop this product. It was really a revolution.
MF Does it trouble you that so many people have copied that design?
IM You know we almost went bankrupt over YaYaHo, because we invested so much. I had to go to the bank to borrow more money. I showed the person at the bank the design, and he asked me, “Do you think you can sell this stuff? Why don’t you do something rustic, some lampshades?” He didn’t give me the loan.
MF Aside from your interest in the light bulb, you also seem very fascinated by paper as a material to cover the bulb. I suppose this started with the Lampampe and continued on with the MaMo Nouchies.
IM I always like the quality of paper. I was playing with paper starting in the 70’s. I designed Lampampe and Willydilly. After the craze of plastic, people wanted to go back to nature. I had a girl working with me on and off, who was a student studying textile design. She had developed a technique based on a Japanese dyeing method to crumple fabric manually. I asked her if we could do it in paper. She agreed to try and eventually we developed it. Her name is Dagmar Mombach and I thought maybe we could play with our names. Names are very important. I also want to pay homage to Isamu Noguchi, who was a great man. So I came up with the name MaMo Nouchies.
MF How is the paper you use for MaMo Nouchies special?
IM We use a special pulp made in the Philippines. The paper is then made in Japan. Once the paper is made, we destroy the fiber in the paper by hand – crumbling and pulling to make it more flexible. We wrap the paper around a tube with a thread and push the paper together. We make the paper wet and then let it dry. This becomes the paper we use to form into shapes and every shape is a little different. We will work more with paper in the future. Meanwhile I have developed some lamps with LED technology.
MF It seems your interest now is to incorporate light into other things, furniture or clothing. They seem very literal about conveying a message. The LEDs on the clothes have texts.
IM I have been exploring that. I imagine you wear a suit and can really make a statement. Unfortunately the technology is still very expensive and fragile. But we are working on it and I am ready for new experiments.
MF The MaMo Nouchies and the YaYaHo seem to express your interest in lightness and a sense of delicacy. I suppose one aspect of LED is that the new technology allows you to make your design even lighter.
IM In all of my work, I am crazy about lightness. I don’t like heavy things. I am very attracted to ephemeral qualities. So I am really going with lightness, for example the light bulb with the wings, Lucellino. Maybe it is because I live in Germany, which is a good country and much better than the image of Germany. But Germany feels heavy, for instance the people’s sense of humor. There are certain truths in those stereotypical images of Germany. Germans are not as daring or as free.
MF Often times your design express a sense of humor or a lack of seriousness.
IM It is my attitude in general towards life. Life is a precious thing and we have an obligation to give something back. But, you can’t just say that I will make something humorous. You have to let it happen.
MF Your designs, XXL Dome and Pierre ou Paul, seem to be the exceptions in your work, in terms of lightness. They are volumetric, more massive, and look heavier.
IM They are massive but not heavy. The dome started when I designed the lighting for a subway station. When you think of a subway station you think of the people that are traveling. I was required to use fluorescent bulbs, which I hated. So I shove the bulbs as far up as I could. At the same time, you want to give the people in the subway station a very good feeling. That was the start of the dome.
MF So it was meant to be more atmospheric?
IM Dome really gives you the feeling of being protected and takes you up at the same time. I am really fascinated by the dome.
MF Another object that seems to fascinate you is the heart.
IM The first heart I made was a wedding gift for my friends. I made it very quickly. Then I worked on Tijuca. This was a tiny village in Tuscany and they have a four-day feast every year. They asked me to contribute something. First of all the heart is always a very emotional thing. Then hanging it between the church and the schoolhouse seemed appropriate to me. So it just happened like that. It has been traveling to Japan, America, and all over Europe. It was well received.
MF Tell us about the flying candles. You did it long before the movie, Harry Potter. Is there the possibility of making that safe for use at home?
IM The idea for Fly Candle Fly didn’t originate with me. Georg Baldele, who was a student of my friend Ron Arad, came up with the idea. We thought the idea was beautiful. We first tried to have the flame burn on the metal wire, but the flame was too small. We later developed it as you see it now. We cannot sell the design in America because of liability issues. Our product is absolutely perfect. Of course, we tell the people to extinguish the flame when they are no longer in the room. However, in America, if for some reason the house burns down, we would be responsible in some way. We don’t have this problem in Europe.
MF Your works always have a technical component. One can’t help but be amazed at the design’s technical virtuosity. How long did it take you develop the Touchtronic device?
IM It was a very painful idea. The development took about 4 to 5 years. We did it with an electronic guy who was working on our premises. We spent more than a million dollars on it. It was the idea of magic or light at your fingertip. It was actually coming more from the heart. People tend to think of me as a romantic. I do have romantic tendencies and I am not ashamed of it. I also know that the technical aspects of things are very important, but I don’t want to over emphasize them. They should be really reduced, but not hidden. For the YaYaHo, we had 267 little details that we had to design. For example we made the wire with Kevlar so it doesn’t sag over time. That’s a lot of work.
MF How many new products do you develop and try to introduce each year?
IM I would like to have maybe three products a year. I also do a lot projects aside from the collection: light planning, operas, exhibitions, illuminating landmarks, and artwork. These projects take a lot of my time.
MF What types of people buy your design and do you have a type of consumer in mind as you are designing? It seems the lamps are always so expensive. Are you interested in making something cheaper for the general public?
IM My dream is to make a cheaper lamp for the public. First of all, we don’t make the prices here in the U.S. The stores make the markups. Second, the designs are manufactured in one of the most expensive cities in Germany. Third, there is a lot of handling that’s involved. It is a mix between industry and craft. These things make it expensive. The customers are really mixed. Conservative people don’t buy my design, but people with an open mind do. Obviously we would be able to sell more if we can lower the price. I don’t have a policy of making the prices high. I don’t want to make my lamps in a cheaper country, not because I have a nationalistic feeling for Germany. Just the opposite, I don’t want to fire the people I have. Also, nothing I do is based on market research. Marketing is a kind of dictatorship. It’s wrong when marketing is more important than the beauty of the product. Marketing and advertising are there to persuade and tickle people at their weak points. Instead of market research, I make my goals and I take my risks.
The interview was held on May 22, 2002 in New York City.
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