east german design

packaging and product design produced in the german
democratic republic (GDR) is the subject of his private
collection and reveals a little-known side of german
popular history.

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the rise of modern design
during the initial phase of the GDR, product design was
dominated by an official stalinist aesthetic, but the ideology
of stalinism proved terribly unsuited for the postwar world.
it relegated the needs of consumers to dead last on the
priority list, demanding sacrifice in all areas of life in the
interest of building heavy industry based only on primary and
secondary production. clothes, toys, household items, and cars
were all considered by the SED party to be wants, not needs.

the regime had been against modernism, it favored historicism in
product design, and thus was initially against the use of plastic
because of its modern aesthetic. the products of socialist
industry and construction should reflect the cultural heritage of
germany, imitating styles such as baroque, rococo, chippendale,
‘gründerzeit’, and others.