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Gerd Lange

Gerd Lange was born in 1931 in Wuppertal, Germany. After learning the carpenter's trade, he studied at the University of Art and Design in Offenbach and founded his own design studio in 1961 in Kapsweyer, a village in southwest Germany.

Just seven years later, in 1968, he designed a stackable chair made of a polyamide seat and tubular steel legs. More than a million units were produced over forty-five years. The simple, functional chair with the succinct name "SM 400 K" won the German Federal Award for Professional Seating, the US Design Award and the iF Design Award at Messe Hannover. It can currently be seen in the Guggenheim Museum and Rockefeller Center in New York. In 1973, Lange created the first plastic chair with wooden legs, manufactured by Thonet.

Gerd Lange is considered one of the most influential industrial designers of his time.
Without knowing it, almost everyone has sat in a Gerd Lange chair or used one of his products. The furniture and product designer created countless everyday objects and his chairs were produced in spectacular quantities. In short, Gerd Lange had a huge influence on the history of design in Germany in the 70s and 80s.
Throughout his creative career, he created countless everyday objects. His chairs, in particular, have been extremely successful.

Gerd Lange had a decisive influence on the design history of the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. His designs for Drabert, Thonet, DeSede and Wogg, among others, won numerous awards.