Magazin:		Intramuros
Ausgabe:		No.148, Mai-Juni 2010
Artikel:		S.28, Profils – Les connexions de Klaus Hackl
Text:		Benedicte Duhalde
Download:		Intramuros148.pdf
Website:		www.Intramuros.fr

Klaus Hackl´s story is simple. After studying design in `boring´ Munich at the start of the
90´s, he continued his training in the newly created Fine Arts and Design Academy in Saarbrucken, in the south west of Germany. A lively and creative place which according to him was `ideal´ for studying as well as being the antechamber for France.
He was lucky enough to study under one of the great Swiss professors, Lucius Burckhardt and to meet Andreas Brandolini who lived nearby in Lorraine. With him, he discovered Jean Prouvé´s house close to Nancy, Le Corbusier´s factory at Saint-Dié, the glass factory at Meisenthal and the Royal Salt Works at Arc-et-Senans.
It was with his help also that he joined Konstantin Grcicís office (where he worked on the Mayday lamp for Flos) and met Jasper Morrison for whom he went to work in London on the tramway project for Expo 2000 in Hannover. He quickly adopted 'utilism' as a principle: go beyond the facade, take account of local circumstances and of the reality of everyday living.
In 1999 he opened his own office in the centre of Munich. Companies like Magis, Nils Holger Moormann, ENO soon became his clients. His work was chosen by Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa as part of the 'Super Normal' exhibition and 'Design Germany Case Study' which promotes classic German design around different salons.
The success of his cardiac assistance machine 'Lifebridge' B2T (together with Uli Guth) - winner of both an iF Design and Red Dot awards - brought him into the medical device industry, which is no bad thing for a sector that could do with a dose of humanity.
Keeping his distance from trends and stylistic exuberances, he designed a series of porcelain dishes, a bird table, a lamp for Bergen, the Nils Holger Moorman guest house as well as a studio-boutique for Drin & Dran, for the ceramic artist Elisabeth Klein and the decorator, Stefanie Fischer.
Always respectful of craftsmen and their skill, he is aware that design owes them a singular debt. He is always on the lookout for making connections between the two and works with the Werkraum Bregenzerwald in Austria, an association of a hundred or so craftsmen interested in design, that provides a supportive environment and helps to promote their work, as well as with the Bayerische Kunstgewerbeverein in Munich. Partnerships that are both productive and close for all concerned.