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book (design) story #369

hans hilfiker:
apparateindustrie und küchenbau

therma ag, schwanden, 1967
printer: gebr. fretz ag, zürich
size: 18 x 18 cm
designer: erwin halpern, hansheiri pidoux, dario zuffo

in this small brochure hans hilfiker (1901-1993) recapitulates his design work for the therma company, a swiss manufacturer of kitchen equipment.

in earlier years hilfiker worked for sbb (swiss federal railways); his best known design is the famous swiss railway clock from 1944.

hilfiker explains how he developed fitted kitchen furniture based on a normed system of modular elements which in his eyes ensured great flexibility along with a sleek, uniform look and surfaces which were "easy to clean". these design principles were to dominate kitchen design for decades.

in 1982 otl aicher published a radically different approach (as result of a study for german kitchen manufacturer bulthaup): aicher questioned the functionality of the ubiquitous fitted kitchen and propagated a "kitchen for cooking" based on the "undesigned", open, workshop-like kitchens of great chefs – see book story 104.

the "swiss style" typography matches hilfiker's kitchen design philosophy perfectly: sleek, grid-based rationality with "clean" sans-serif type. the impressum credits the zürich-based erwin halpern (1917-1983) agency for the design.