Workshop: MAKE YOUR OWN ULMER HOCKER

Of all the designer chairs of the 20th century, Max Bill’s Ulmer Hocker is arguably the most likeable. Originally an example of making a “virtue out of necessity,” the chair’s simple but ingenious design was in part due to a limited budget and the need to make the chairs at the school. The architects and designers Max Bill and Hans Gugelot together with the head of the carpentry workshop Paul Hildinger created one of the most iconic objects of the 20th century. Simplicity can lead to flexibility: The Hocker is ideal as a seat, lectern, part of a shelf, or a table (I sometimes turn it over and use it to carry things). The workshop explores its DIY simplicity, while at the same time revisiting this moment in the history of design and art education—calling upon the spirits of the interrupted history of the HfG Ulm.