Design "made" in Germany.

Once upon a time, "Made in Germany" was a highly respected seal of quality worldwide.

"Vorsprung durch Technik" was one of the mottos in which German engineering art self-confidently went around the world. There must still be something to it - otherwise, our country would not still be an export world champion. But the gap, if it exists at all, has narrowed. Product copy cats like to make use of German technology and German products - but of course not exclusively with us, Germans. If you look at graphic design in the world, there have been global styles and trends for many years that mix almost seamlessly with regional peculiarities. These may be more or less pronounced as local influences in LA, Shanghai, Barcelona or Berlin, but they are hardly sufficient for a clear attribution.

So is there such a thing as German design? 

The question brings me directly to another: What is German anyway? There is the German and there is the cliché of it. That's what most nations, countries, people have. Germans are generally regarded as tidy, clean and of course, on time. According to common clichés they tend to either brood, pedantry or even know-it-all. Not exactly attributes that sound like we are fun to be around. Nevertheless, something seems to have changed over the last generations: More recently, we have been perceived abroad as cosmopolitan and pleasant.

Design has a long tradition in the land of poets and thinkers.

It is said that only those who know their past have a future. But we can be more than just analytical heirs to the Bauhaus or the Ulm University of Applied Sciences. One can regret that our national iconology of black-red-golden stripes and eagles is not exactly hip (e.g. in comparison with the insignia of the USA, Great Britain, Switzerland or Japan, which are superior in their abstraction). But too much folklore would certainly not be good.

Unless we find a relaxed way (as relaxed as Germans can be) of dealing with, say: garden gnomes, hunting fences, and potatoes. Whether prefabricated housing, semi-detached houses or permanent campers - the spectrum of German manifestations is wide between Eastern Modernism and Postmodernism.

Even if noise barriers, house facades or magazines are becoming more and more colorful, this does not yet say anything about the colorfulness of life behind them. So if we want people to say "typically German" in admiration, then as designers we must also measure ourselves against what Germany has actually achieved in terms of international recognition.

Recently, even US President Obama needed coaching in the fact that the invention of the automobile is closely linked to the names Daimler, Benz and Porsche. One can argue aptly about whether the combustion engine was a curse or a blessing for mankind. But hardly anyone today would want to go on without the mobility they have gained.

In the narrower sense, Germans haven't been around that long - but they have left their mark on our planet: Bach, Goethe and Humboldt have invaded new territories across familiar borders; Luther, Gutenberg and Marx have each revolutionized existing conditions in their own way; Kant, Einstein and Adorno have changed thinking as such. The elite of German painters is currently one of the most expensive and influential artists in the world.

The future will show whether "Design made in Germany" is only a designation of origin or can be a seal of quality. The "thinking" must "happen" in people's minds again and it cannot be prescribed. For the necessary actions, courage is part of the risk or the famous "view over the edge of the plate" as well as the knowledge of "where one comes from".

Then, and only then, we will be able to regain the power of the brand "Deutsches Design".

Thanks for reading and leave me a comment with your thoughts or shoot me a DM,