Pure light: Ingo Maurer's classic designs
His very last work was presented in Munich just two days before he died. For more than 50 years, Ingo Maurer created timeless lamps and light installations. We present some impressive highlights from his work.
Light bulb within a light bulb
He owed his breakthrough as a designer to the "Bulb." With this work, Ingo Maurer created a monument to the light bulb in 1966. He saw "Bulb" as more than just a means of illuminating a room, namely "the ideal symbiosis of poetry and technology." Manufactured from hand-blown Murano glass, the iconic design is still a hit to this day.
Winged light
In 1992, Ingo Maurer lent wings to the light bulb. This lamp, called "Lucellino," also features his trademark light bulb, and keeps the electric wires as decorative elements.
Clear lines
Ingo Maurer didn't limit himself to light bulbs. Always keeping up with modern trends, he integrated new developments in his designs, as can be seen here with his "YaYaHo." This classic design of the year 1984 has movable halogen lamps attached to metal wires.
Light in the underground
When you take the underground line U1 in Munich to the stop Westfriedhof, you are immersed in a sea of colors. Huge cupola-shaped lampshades, almost four meters wide, hang above the platform, coloring it in yellow, red and blue. Ingo Maurer created this light installation in 1998.
A European monument
Brussel's Atomium was restored in 2006. "After reflecting a lot about the project, I decided to use my very first impressions in the space as a starting point — a strong emotional experience, the feeling of being in a space craft," said Maurer, who designed the lighting in the space. "In the Atomium, people still want to fly to the moon."
More than just an installation
Some of the light artist's designs were revealed at industry fairs. He is pictured with his lamp "Delirium Yum" at the "Light + Building" fair in Frankfurt in 2006. His company, well known for its unusual presentations, has been present at fairs since the 1970s. Maurer also opened a showroom in New York in 1999, followed by another one in Munich in 2009.
From Munich to New York
This snowflake made of stainless steel was created by Ingo Maurer in his Munich-based studio for UNICEF. Consisting of 16,000 crystal prisms, the seven-meter-wide "UNICEF Crystal Snowflake" has been illuminating New York's Fifth Avenue every holiday season since 2004.
Natural elements
This huge pendulum designed by Ingo Maurer can be admired in the atrium of Munich's Pinakothek der Moderne. For this work, Maurer was inspired by the harmonious form of an egg combined with the quiet movement of a pendulum. The three-meter-high work of aluminium was handmade and extensively polished.
The very last work
Two days before Maurer died on October 21, the 12-meter-long "Silver Cloud" was revealed in the foyer of Munich's Residenz Theater. The artwork consists of 3,000 silver-plated sheets. "We are grateful that we were able to realize this project together with Ingo Maurer, who worked on it until shortly before his death, and we will keep his memory alive," the theater wrote on its internet site.