71 | Integration
Integration of Human Aspect in Design by Berthold Dieker - Franz Schneider Brakel (FSB)
The abbreviation FSB is synonymous throughout the world for aesthetically and functionally high-quality door and window handles - and much more.
Foundation – History and Mission of FSB FSB originated in Iserlohn, where Franz Schneider founded the company in 1881. In 1909, the company's headquarters were relocated to the East Westphalian town of Brakel. FS proudly added the B for Brakel to his signet and the FSB brand was born. The rise to an architectural brand begins in the 1950s. After the closure of the Bauhaus and the turmoil of the war, design and architecture were experiencing a sustained revival. Ray and Charles Eames inspired with their functional furniture designs, Arne Jacobsen designed classics such as the stackable “Series 7” chair. Dieter Rams design works at Braun are today the blueprint for products from the company with the apple logo. The decade from 1953 to 1963 was a defining moment for FSB: Johannes Potente created his trailblazing and still valid hand-molded design. Posthumously, his anonymous industrial design also received its due appreciation: it was included, among others, in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the 1980s, under the intellectual leadership of the designer Otl Aicher (1922 – 91), the very own activities were questioned substantially. Otl Aicher moved as a young man in the immediate vicinity of the “Weisse
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Rose”, a resistance movement to the siblings Scholl against the Nazi regime in Germany. After World War II, in 1953, together with his wife Inge Aicher-Scholl, he founded the College of Design in Ulm, which in the years of its existence (1953 - 1969) was to decisively influence German and international design up to the present day. Otl Aicher became famous with his work for companies such as ERCO Lichttechnik and Lufthansa, as well as for the visual appearance of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. The result of the collaboration with Otl Aicher was a fundamentally new design culture at FSB that was essentially based on the cultural history of grasping in general and the history of handles in particular.
Figure 1. Iconic FSB 1020 design by Johannes Potente
