Ingo Maurer

1932 Reichenau



Before the designer Ingo Maurer concentrated solely on lighting design, he trained as a graphic designer until 1958. In 1960 Ingo Maurer went to the US, where he worked as a graphic designer and designer. In 1966 Maurer returned to Germany and founded Design M in Munich, a firm specializing in producing lighting and developing lighting concepts. Inspired by the Pop art he had encountered in the United States of America, Ingo Maurer designed "Bulb" in 1966, a lamp in the form of a giant light bulb of chromium plated metal and handblown glass.
Numerous other innovative lighting designs followed, which made Ingo Maurer famous worldwide. The naked light bulb constantly recurs, which may be viewed as Ingo Maurer's tribute to its inventor, Thomas Alva Edison. In 1969 Ingo Maurer designed the "No fuss" lamp and, in 1979, the elegantly simple "Savoie". In 1980 Ingo Maurer reverted to his early lighting designs. "Bulb Bulb", which can be either a pendent or a floor lamp, is also in the form of a giant light bulb but is made of pressure molded plastic. Colored light bulbs change its appearance - and it is unabashed kitsch. " 'Bulb Bulb' is fun. Pop and kitsch," as Ingo Maurer says.
From 1982 to 1984 Ingo Maurer developed a revolutionary technology for a halogen system that consists of low-voltage wires with little halogen lamps attached and stretched across a room. This system was introduced at the 1984 "Euroluce" trade fair in Milan and at once created a furore. In 1992 Ingo Maurer designed "Lucellino", a light bulb with little goose-feather wings. In 1994 Maurer came up with "Porca Miseria", a pendent lamp made of broken crockery fastened to wires surrounding the source of light. The 1998 Ingo Maurer "Zettel'z" lamps have been particularly successful. Scraps of Japanese paper with poems or drawings on them or left blank to inspire user creativity.
In 1999 Ingo Maurer designed several aluminium lampshades with a diameter of four meters for the new Munich Westfriedhof underground station. A smaller version of the "XXL Dome" was mass produced. In 1973 Design M became Ingo Maurer Lighting GmbH.