Hans Erich Slany (26 October 1926 – 22 September 2013)
[Dr Hans Erich Slany Obituary](_blank)
/ref> was a German designer considered by many to have been the first industrial designer to design plastic housings for power tools
A power tool is a tool that is actuated by an additional power source and mechanism other than the solely manual labor used with hand tools. The most common types of power tools use electric motors. Internal combustion engines and compressed air ...
. Slany is also thought of as one of the icons of design [Who's Who in German Design](_blank)
/ref> in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. He founded TEAMS Design GmbH, was a Professor of Industrial Design
Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...
(ID) for more than 20 years and helped found the Verband Deutscher Industrie Designer Verband Deutscher Industrie Designer e.V. or VDID is a professional organization for industrial designers based in Germany that was founded by seven German designers in 1959. The VDID is an association of German designers founded to promote the exch ...
e. V.[Verband Deutscher Industrie Designe e.V.](_blank)
in 1959 (VDID - Germany’s version of the Industrial Designers Society of America
The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is a membership-based not-for-profit organization that promotes the practice and education of industrial design.
The organization was formally established in 1965 by the collaborative merger of t ...
(IDSA)). He then helped the VDID with their entry into the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design
The World Design Organization (WDO) was founded in 1957 from a group of international organizations focused on industrial design. Formerly known as the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, the WDO is a worldwide society th ...
(ICSID).[ICSID](_blank)
Early years
Slany was born in 1926 in Böhmisch Wiesenthal, Czechoslovakia. He served in the Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
and was POW
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. After the war, he graduated in 1948 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Hochschule Esslingen,[Hochschule Esslingen, University of Applied Sciences](_blank)
/ref> University of Applied Sciences. Out of school he obtained a position as a product developer and assistant technical manager at Firma Ritter Aluminum GmbH[Firma Ritter Aluminum GmbH](_blank)
/ref> Esslingen am Neckar
Esslingen am Neckar ( Swabian: ''Esslenga am Neckor'') is a town in the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany, seat of the District of Esslingen as well as the largest town in the district. Within Baden-Württemberg it is t ...
. He then went on to the styling department at Daimler AG
The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...
Sindelfingen
Sindelfingen ( Swabian: ''Sendlfenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg in south Germany. It lies near Stuttgart at the headwaters of the Schwippe (a tributary of the river Würm), and is home to a Mercedes-Benz assembly plant.
History
* 1155 ...
[Daimler-Benz AG Sindelfingen](_blank)
in the Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
studio where he worked for 2 years. While at Daimler, he worked on the distinctive gull wing Mercedes-Benz 300SL
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (chassis code W 198) is a two-seat sports car which was produced by Mercedes-Benz as a gullwinged coupe (1954–1957) and roadster (1957–1963).Werner Oswald: ''Mercedes-Benz Personenwagen 1945–1985''. Motorbuch Ve ...
. He also collaborated with Heinrich Loffelhardt on the Ikonette Compact Camera for Zeiss-Ikon.
Slany Design
In 1956 Hans Erich Slany founded his own design consultancy called SLANY Design. Soon after the founding, he approached Robert Bosch
Robert Bosch (23 September 1861 – 12 March 1942) was a German industrialist, engineer and inventor, founder of Robert Bosch GmbH.
Biography
Bosch was born in Albeck, a village to the northeast of Ulm in southern Germany as the eleventh of t ...
GmbH with his ideas for power tools housed in plastics. He was convinced that plastic housings would make the tools lighter, making the workers using them less prone to repetitive use injury. Also, it would reduce problems with electrical shocks. Robert Bosch GmbH
Robert Bosch GmbH (; ), commonly known as Bosch and stylized as BOSCH, is a German multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Germany. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 1886. Bosch is 9 ...
even went on to publish a book called “The Influence of Ergonomics on the Design of Power Tools” based on Slany’s recommendations to share with all their engineers and to follow up a traveling exhibition (Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
only) they sponsored called, “Making work easier: Ergonomics for power tools”. He believed that the designer should be the advocate of the user of the equipment they are called upon to design.
Slany was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Berlin University of the Arts
The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...
[Berlin University of the Arts](_blank)
/ref> in 1985. He also founded the industrial design program at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart
The State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart (German: Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart) is a university in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded on 25 June 1761, and located since 1946 on the Weißenhof, the Academy, whose historical sig ...
[Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design](_blank)
which was the first intensive ID program in Germany.
Slany desired to infuse the company with a strong team based mentality. He said, "Früher arbeiteten Gestalter oft isoliert und mit künsterlischen Gestaltungskriterien, beeinflußt durch unterschiedliche kulturelle Anschauungsterndenzen. Der Industriedesigner heute arbeitet systematisch. Er analysiert, vergleicht, prüft und gestaltet erst dann... Ein kreatives, lebendiges Designteam bringt die besten Voraussetzunge für innovative Anregungen, die in den bereichsübergreifenden Entscheidungsprozeß einfließen." or translated into English, "Formerly designers often worked in isolation and with artificial design criteria, influenced by different cultural views and tendencies. Today's industrial designers work systematically. They analyze, compare, examine, and design only after that... A creative lively design team provides the best conditions for innovative stimuli that flow into the overall decision-making process."
Professional community involvement – VDID
Slany along with six other professional industrial designers that later were referred to in publications
To publish is to make content available to the general public.[Berne Conve ...](_blank)
and in the media as the "7", joined together to found the VDID in 1959. The six other designers are Professor Arno Votteler, Hans-Theo Baumann,[Han-Theo Baumann Biography on Ketterer Kunst](_blank)
/ref>[Baumann Biography on Art Director Design](_blank)
/ref> Herbert Hirche Herbert Hirche (20 May 1910, in Görlitz – 28 January 2002, in Heidelberg) was a German architect and furniture and product designer.
Herbert Hirche studied from 1930 to 1933 at the Bauhaus in Dessau and Berlin.. Retrieved 29 October 2014 His te ...
, , Rainer Schütze, and . They believed that designers needed an association to promote professional advocacy, support them in both legal and educational issues, and to represent the profession
A profession is a field of work that has been successfully ''professionalized''. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, '' professionals'', who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by ...
to the public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
. Around that same time they joined the ICSID as a full member. VDID also works closely with the German Fashion and Textile Design Association (VDMD)[VDMD Site](_blank)
/ref> under the umbrella of the German Designer Association (DDV).
Later years – TEAMS Design
As Slany Design grew, Slany realized that the firm would have to evolve. He sold part of his shares in the company to two of his managers, Reinhard Renner and Klaus Schoen and changed the firm's name to Slany Design TEAMS. Finally when he retired in 1996, he was awarded the highest honor in Germany for lifetime service, the Bundesverdienstkreuz
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
by then Federal President Roman Herzog
Roman Herzog (; 5 April 1934 – 10 January 2017) was a German politician, judge and legal scholar, who served as the president of Germany from 1994 to 1999. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the first president to be elec ...
. In accordance to Slany's ten-year plan, Renner and Schoen then removed Slany's name from the company name leaving simply TEAMS Design GmbH. A lot of Slany's founding philosophies are at the heart of the firm today, now expanding across 4 countries (Germany, Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, United States and China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
) with 5 offices in Esslingen, Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
, Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, and Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
. TEAMS Design continues to win awards and lead in the field of design while maintaining some of Slany’s original clients like Robert Bosch GmbH, Karcher GmbH, Silit, and Leifheit.[Leifheit Corporate Site](_blank)
/ref>
Awards and distinctions
1973-78 Awarded “Gute Form” awards also known as the German Design Award The Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the official design award for Germany presented by the German Ministry for Economics and Technology. The award was given for the first time ...
1985 Honorary doctorate by the Berlin University of the Arts
The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...
1986 Became the Academic Director and a professor at the newly founded industrial design program for the Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
State Academy of Art and Design. Founded the first study program leading to the degree, "Dipl. - Ingeniuerdesigner" in Germany (Diploma Designer)
1990 Awarded Design Team of the year award by Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
also known as the Red Dot Design Award
The Red Dot Design Award is a German international design prize awarded by Red Dot GmbH & Co. KG. There are prize categories for product design, brands and communication design, and design concept. Since 1955, designers and producers can apply ...
1996 TEAMS / SLANY Design was ranked as the top design firm in Germany by Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen (Red Dot Design Award) and second place worldwide
1996 Received highest order award in Germany, the Bundesverdienstkreuz
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
for lifetime service.
Bibliography
* Slany, Hans Erich; Stefanie Leisentritt, (2013). "Industriedesign - Eine Erfolgsgeschichte", Verlag Sindlinger-Burchartz,
* Bauer, Wolfgang-Otto (2007). ''European Cutlery Design 1948-2000'', Arnoldsche Art Publishers, .
* Betts, Paul, (2007), ''The Authority of Everyday Objects: A Cultural History of West German Industrial Design (Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism)'', University of California Press,
* Godau, Marion; * Antonelli, Paola, (2007) ''Design Directory Germany'', Universe,
* Fiell, Peter; Fiell, Charlotte; Krumhauer, Julia, (2003). ''Industrial Design A-Z'', Tashen,
* Kupetz, Andrej, editor (2001). "Gunter Kupetz: Industrial Design", Birkhauser Architecture,
* Zec, Prof. Peter, (1997). ''German Design Standards'', Koln: DuMont,
* Marquart, Christian, (1994). ''Industrial Culture - Industrial Design: A Piece of German Economic and Design History: The Founder Members of the Association of German Industrial'', John Wiley & Sons,
* Zimmer, Prof. Dieter. "Zwei x 12 Deutsche Designer", md Moebel Interior Design 1987
* Ogursky, Guenter; Stof, Gabrielle (editors) (Unknown). ''The Influence of Ergonomics on the Design of Power Tools'', Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart
References
External links
Red Dot Design Hall of Fame
* German Wikipedia Entry on the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design
Spanish Biography Site
Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)
Who's Who in German Design
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slany, Hans Erich
1926 births
2013 deaths
German prisoners of war in World War II
German industrial designers
Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
People from Chomutov District
Sudeten German people
German Army personnel of World War II