Marianne Brandt was one of the most important product designers in interwar Germany, and this paper tray represents her aspirations for well-designed, affordable, mass-produced goods. Brandt enrolled in 1924 at the Bauhaus, where she created one of her most famous objects, an ashtray (M.2024.105.1). Her massing of simple, geometric forms amenable to commercial production so exemplified the Bauhaus ideal of creating modern goods for a modern world that they became symbolic of the school itself. After leaving the Bauhaus in 1929, Brandt served as head designer at the metalware factory Ruppelwerk in the town of Gotha in central Germany. There she completely revamped the product line, creating, among other objects, this paper tray. Like the ashtray, it is a construction of geometric shapes in which the spherical weight contrasts with the flat planes of the tray itself. At Ruppelwerk, Brandt implemented the Bauhaus ideals of functional design accessible to a broad audience. Together, the 1924 Bauhaus ashtray and the 1931 Ruppelwerk paper tray demonstrate the theoretical and practical goals of modernist design philosophy.
Bobbye Tigerman
2024