Erich Dieckmann (5November 18968November 1944) was a German carpenter, furniture designer, architect and university lecturer. Alongside Marcel Breuer, he is considered the most important furniture designer of the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau.Prof. Dr. Anita Bach: Vom Bauhaus zur Bauhochschule. Erich Dieckmann in Weimar 1921 bis 1930. In: Prof. Dr. Anita Bach, Alexander von Vegesack: Erich Dieckmann – Praktiker der Avantgarde: Möbelbau 1921–1933. Bauhaus Weimar, Bauhochschule Weimar, Burg Giebichenstein, Ausstellung 13. Juni – 30. September 1990, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein 1990, , S. 35–40.
He primarily developed furniture (cabinets, tables, and seating furniture), initially made of wood in geometric shapes with rectangular frames and standardized designs, which enabled cost-effective production. Later, he also designed some organic seating furniture as well as carpet designs, clocks, furnishing and color concepts for functional interiors.Erich Dieckmann (1896–1944), auf: franklandau.comSessel (Modell 8219). In: Grassi Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Leipzig, auf: museum-digital.de His life and work fell into oblivion.Alexander von Vegesack: Vorwort und Dank. In: Anita Bach, Alexander von Vegesack: Erich Dieckmann – Praktiker der Avantgarde: Möbelbau 1921–1933. Bauhaus Weimar, Bauhochschule Weimar, Burg Giebichenstein, Ausstellung 13. Juni – 30. September 1990, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein 1990, , S. 7.
School, World War I, and education
After attending school in Bad Bentheim, Erich Dieckmann went to the Realgymnasium in Goslar, graduating in 1913 with the "Einjährige" (intermediate secondary school leaving certificate). At the age of 16, he went to sea as a cabin boy on the sailing ship Jonny for about a year to learn the seafaring trade, traveling to countries such as Russia, Great Britain, Spain, and Africa.Josef Straßer: 50 Bauhaus-Ikonen, 2009, S. 78f. After the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, like many enthusiastic and patriotic Germans, he voluntarily enlisted in the war navy at the age of 17 and volunteered for service, but due to a lack of demand, he was drafted into the Imperial Army and, after the Battle of the Marne, was assigned to the Reserve Jäger Battalion No. 23 in Goslar (I. Res. Jäg. 23, in the Green Corps), which was subordinate to the 51st Reserve Division and its subdivision, the 101st Reserve Infantry Brigade. The Reserve Jäger Battalion No. 23 was sent to the Western Front. In the fall of 1914, Dieckmann took part in the First Battle of Flanders, and in 1915 he was involved in the capture of Langemarck north of Ypres. His left forearm was shattered there by a Canadian explosive shell. His forearm and left hand were painstakingly reconstructed with implants using the methods available at the time, which meant that Dieckmann spent almost two years in military hospitals, most recently in Göttingen. Due to his permanent physical disability, he was certified as having a 50% "restriction on earning capacity", and had to give up his dream of becoming a sailor. His older brother Ernst (1895–1916) was killed, at the age of 18, on the Western Front in the Argonne, and another older brother was seriously wounded, like Erich.
In order to study, he returned to secondary school and graduated with the Reifeprüfung (school leaving certificate). He studied architecture at the Technical University of Danzig from 1918 to 1920, but dropped out after his pre-diplomabecause he disliked both the methodology and the goals of technical university education.Erich Dieckmann, auf: kettererkunst.de
After completing his preliminary architecture degree, he began studying painting and drawing in Dresden, but was dissatisfied with the program.
At the Bauhaus Weimar
Gerhard Marcks drew his attention to the Bauhaus in Weimar under Walter Gropius. From the winter semester of 1921/22 to 1925, Dieckmann studied there on a scholarship, initially under Johannes Itten, and at the same time completed a carpentry apprenticeship there from spring 1922. During this time, Dieckmann belonged to Walter Gropius's inner circle of students and was significantly influenced by him. In February 1924, Gropius submitted a request to the Weimar Chamber of Crafts to allow Erich Dieckmann to take his journeyman's examination early because he had been proposed as the successor to Marcel Breuer in the furniture workshop. The Chamber of Crafts then exempted Dieckmann from his third year of apprenticeship, enabling him to complete his apprenticeship on August 25, 1924, with the journeyman's examination before the Weimar Chamber of Crafts. It was only through his studies and, not least, his apprenticeship at the Bauhaus that Dieckmann found satisfaction in terms of methodology and the technical content taught.
As for other Bauhaus students, the cube or rectangular prism became the most important reference unit in applied design. Like his colleague Josef Albers, Dieckmann sought furniture forms that could be manufactured by machine. Unlike Albers and Breuer, however, Dieckmann did not want to forego the possibilities offered by traditional wood joints and an emphasis on the natural properties of wood. His favorite material combinations were oak and bird's-eye maple, oak and padauk (also known as padouk), walnut and maple, and walnut and elm.
Haus am Horn The interior design of the master bedroom and dining room in the Weimar model house "Haus Am Horn", which Georg Muche planned as a flagship project for the Bauhaus under the restrictive conditions of hyperinflation, was conceived by Dieckmann in 1923. The interior design represents Dieckmann's first independently executed work.Die Form – Zeitschrift für gestaltende Arbeit, 4. Jg., Heft 19, 1. Oktober 1929, S. 514. Marcel Breuer particularly praised the simplicity of the functional construction of Dieckmann's design for the bed, which consisted solely of square blocks, and "the monumental beauty of the clarity, which fully satisfies our aesthetic demands even without inorganic decoration and ornamentation." The furniture designed by Breuer and Dieckmann was simple in form, functional, appropriate to the materials used, and suitable for industrial production.
After successfully completing his apprenticeship, Dieckmann worked as a salaried "Etatgeselle" (journeyman) in the furniture workshop at the Bauhaus. Several so-called "productive journeymen" now worked according to Dieckmann's designs, while Dieckmann himself also executed designs by third parties, such as Breuer's chair designs.
State College of Crafts and Architecture in Weimar After the Bauhaus moved to Dessau, Dieckmann remained in Weimar and ran the furniture workshop from April 1925 to March 1926 together with Reinhold Weidensee. On July 1, 1926, it was integrated into the State College of Crafts and Architecture in Weimar as the Department of Carpentry and Interior Design. In March 1926, Dieckmann signed his employment contract as artistic director of this department, which took effect on July 1, 1926, initially for a period of three years. In this role, he succeeded Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. Reinhold Weidensee continued to assist him as master craftsman. Dieckmann subsequently played a key role in establishing an exemplary testing facility for the development of standard furniture, a project that is still considered his most significant achievement today.
This furniture was based on a simple cubic form that was geared to the requirements of modern residential buildings. Bartning recommended it to building cooperatives as interior design for newly built housing estates: "The standard furniture we produced was proposed as a German industrial standard for small apartments. It is intended for modern, small-scale housing estates and does not clutter the space, but rather helps to define it." Dieckmann had been involved in developing this standard, which was based on the dimensions of the human body. The modular dimensions of 36 cm10 chosen by Dieckmann for his standard furniture for kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms, bedrooms, and children's rooms proved extremely successful, especially as it could be expanded, varied, and combined in many ways with additional elements. The standard furniture was high-quality, but its standardization made it inexpensive and it was also exceptional from a hygienic point of view – it avoided any dust-collecting effect.
Dieckmann worked alongside colleagues such as Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, Otto Lindig, Ernst Neufert, and Wilhelm Wagenfeld and was appointed professor of interior design and furniture construction. After Marcel Breuer left, he headed the furniture workshop and interior design department, developed interior designs and furniture designs for ongoing production, and made a name for himself with his own remarkable designs. Dieckmann's masterful handling of space, form, and structure had by now reached full maturity, thanks in no small part to his studies in architecture, painting, and drawing prior to his time at the Bauhaus. These were excellent qualifications for his teaching position in interior design in the architecture department. During this time, he lived with his wife at Gutenbergstraße 16 in Weimar.
Interior design projects Between 1925 and 1928, Wilhelm Wagenfeld commissioned Dieckmann to furnish his private study and bedroom. The educator Wilhelm Flitner ordered a walnut hallway from Dieckmann, while the internist Franz Volhard had his living room, bedroom, and a men's room furnished.
In 1926, Dieckmann created the interior design and furnishings of the children's home in the Freiland-Siedlung Gildenhall near Neuruppin, followed in 1930 by his furnishings for the Feodora children's home in Weimar.Tilo Richter: Erich Dieckmann 1896–1944. In: Vitra Design Museum, auf: design-museum.de In doing so, he developed an educationally and psychologically motivated concept of order and color for the rooms and furniture. According to Walter Passarge, this left a "colorful and formally coherent impression" that stood "beyond the disputes and trends of the day."Walter Passarge: Neubauten von Prof. Otto Bartning, Berlin. In: Die Form, 1 (1926), S. 266–269 ().