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book (design) story #104

otl aicher:
die küche zum kochen

verlag georg d.w. callwey, münchen, 1982
printer: pera-druck kg, gräfelfing bei münchen
size: 30 x 22 cm
designer: otl aicher

talking about (electric) cooking (in story 103): 30 years later things had quite changed in the average west-european household: streamlined, built-in kitchen units with electric cookers, fridges, dishwashers had become a commodity – but german designer otl aicher (1922-1991) was not happy.

the cofounder and later director of the legendary design school, hfg ulm, explains why the "modern" kitchen may look neat but actually lacks functionality: a "kitchen for cooking" would have to be different from the products available on the market. aicher describes the "experimental" kitchen of his own house.

as the impressum notes, this 1982 book was based on a study commissioned by bulthaup, a german kitchen manufacturer. many of aicher's ideas went into their later products: free standing central worktables, hooks for hanging tools, etc.

more than 20 years later, "die küche zum kochen" is still one of the best books on the subject.

the book design demonstrates otl aicher's "ulm school" style – heavily influenced by swiss typography (max bill had been the hfg ulm's first director): multi-column, grid-based layout, sans-serif type (set flush left, ragged right), asymmetric titles and page numbers. typical for aicher: hardly any leading (which does not really improve readability).

the book has a very "sober" look: no photos, only b/w drawings, lots of white space. the only colour is a bit of orange on the jacket and endpapers. this copy bears a hand-written inscription by otl aicher – he preferred not to use capital letters.