The

Copper

Age

L’età del rame

La edad de cobre

conductor of electricity and heat and also

has anti-bacterial properties. It is relatively

soft and is therefore easy to shape.

Moreover, when untreated, it develops an

impressive patina over the years.

Nevertheless, since the Bauhaus period,

modern design has been preferentially

decorated with silver-coloured metals and

surfaces, such as stainless steel, chrome

or aluminium. While Bauhaus was still in

its early days, designers such as Marianne

Brandt and Wilhelm Wagenfeld quite

naturally worked with copper, brass and

silver on sophisticated handcrafted unique

or small-series items, but the famous

reorientation towards industry soon arrived.

Founding director, Walter Gropius, called

for the move away from handicraft and

the “romantic way of working” of Bauhaus.

“Copper has

long been

underrated”

Industry was based on metals, such as

aluminium and steel, which could be

produced reasonably and economically.

By the end of the twentieth century,

chrome-plated steel tubes, such as were

used by Mart Stam or Marcel Breuer for

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their famous seating furniture, had

become the fashionable material in the

home. And as for silver, it remained an all-

time favourite. For nearly 90 years now,

this precious metal has been the key col-

our identifying modern design in all

areas of daily life: silver as the outer skin

of streamlined vehicles in the 1930s,

the silver sparkle of fashions in the 1960s

influenced by the moon landings and,

of course, the silver-coloured aluminium

casing of Macbooks and iPads today.

Particularly fundamental changes also

took place in the field of bathroom and

kitchen fittings. Stainless steel and chrome,

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and owner of the renowned furniture

brand e15, made effective use of this metal

by Petra Schmidt

EN

Copper has become the ultimate

choice among designers. The impetus

was provided by the Briton Tom Dixon

back in 2005. During the Milan Furniture

Fair, he hung numerous examples of his

“Shade” globe lights from the ceiling of

the Superstudio and inspired the audi-

ence with these. Since then, copper has

become firmly established in the modern

interior. In 2008, Philipp Mainzer, designer

for his “Habibi” side table. The famous

British architect David Adjaye also prizes

the material: together with the Turkish

luxury brand Gaia & Gino and Swarovski,

he has designed glass crystal-lined copper

vases and bowls.

This new love for copper is particularly sur-

prising, since over the last hundred years

designers have shown little interest in

this non-ferrous metal. Copper has long

been underrated and hardly used at all

since the art nouveau period came to an

end. However, it possesses a great

many positive properties: it is an excellent