Hans Gugelot (1 April 1920 – 10 September 1965) was an Indonesian-born, German engineer and

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 ...

er known for his modernist consumer products.

Life and work

Johan Gugelot was born on 1 April 1920 in

Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Med ...

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

to Dutch parents. He completed his early education in Laren and

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

. In 1934, the Gugelot family moved to

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

for Hans's father's job as a physician. Between 1940 and 1942 Gugelot studied architecture in Lausanne, and graduated as an architect from

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

(ETH), Zurich in 1946. Until 1948 worked as an architect for a number of architects. In 1947, he married. In 1948, Gugelot was hired by

Max Bill Max Bill (22 December 1908 – 9 December 1994) was a Swiss architect, artist, painter, typeface designer, industrial designer and graphic designer. Early life and education Bill was born in Winterthur. After an apprenticeship as a silversmith ...

, for whom he created his first furniture designs. In 1950 Gugelot founded his own office and began designing "M125," a shelving and storage for which he later became known. Another influential work of Gugelot's in this period was the

Ulm Stool Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

, which he designed in collaboration with Bill. In 1954, Gugelot met

Erwin Braun Erwin may refer to: People Given name * Erwin Chargaff (1905–2002), Austrian biochemist * Erwin Dold (1919–2012), German concentration camp commandant in World War 2 * Erwin Hauer (1926–2017), Austrian-born American sculptor * Egon Erwin Kisc ...

, then-head of German consumer product company,

Braun Braun is a common surname, originating from the German word for the color brown. The name is the 22nd most common family name in Germany. Many German emigrants to the United States also changed their name to ''Brown'' (''see Brown (surname)'') ...

. Throughout the remained of the decade, Gugelot created a number of designs for the company, including the

Braun SK 4 Braun is a common surname, originating from the German word for the color brown. The name is the 22nd most common family name in Germany. Many German emigrants to the United States also changed their name to ''Brown'' (''see Brown (surname)''). ...

, which he designed with

Dieter Rams Dieter Rams (born 20 May 1932) is a German industrial designer and retired academic who is closely associated with the consumer products company Braun, the furniture company Vitsœ, and the functionalist school of industrial design. His unobtr ...

Gallery

File:Ulmer-hocker-hfg-ulm-max-bill.jpg, Ulm Stool (1954) File:Braun Sixtant s.jpg, Braun SM 2 shaver (1963) File:Braun SK 4.1.jpg, SK 4/10 (1956) Radio-Phonograph for Braun File:Hans Gugelot- Furniture sistem M125- 1956-dhub-1.jpg, M125 storage system (1956)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gugelot, Hans 1920 births 1965 deaths Dutch industrial designers German industrial designers People from Makassar Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies Dutch emigrants to Germany