Zu – Offen. Türen und Fenster

Rasch, Heinz und Bodo.

Zu – Offen. Türen und Fenster.

Stuttgart, Akademischer Verlag Fritz Wedekind 1931.

177, (3)pp., with numerous drawings and photo illustrations.

25,5 x 18 cm.  Original publisher´s cloth, designed by Brüder Rasch.

EUR 600

„The brothers Heinz (1902-1996) and Bodo (1903-1995) Rasch only worked together for a short period of around four years. The older brother Heinz, who had founded his office while still studying at the Technical University in Stuttgart, joined Bodo in 1926, and until 1930 they shared a flat and a studio, living and working virtually in each other’s pockets. It was a remarkably productive time, and excited by the radical new trends in art and architecture around them, the Rasch brothers enthusiastically embraced the idea that all areas of design were interconnected.The Raschs published five books on fundamental questions of design: ‘Der gefesselte Blick’, which dealt with the new art of advertising, but the book Wie Bauen? (1928), Der Stuhl (1928) and Zu-Offen (1930), each a mixture of manifesto and analysis typical of the time, which seem to have been inspired by both Le Corbusier’s publication strategy and the contemporary revolutionary manifestos of the Bauhaus.They worked for Mies van der Rohe on the Weissenhof Estate and furnished a ‘room for a bachelor’ in the Mies Block as part of the Werkbund exhibition in 1927, as well as another room in Peter Behrens‘ house with furniture based on their own designs.This included the design of a free-swinging chair, which L & C STendal still produces today. “ Formost.de

Remarkable about this copy is an award from the ‘Technische Lehranstalt Dresden’ for a student of the university.The rather conservative college gave away a book that was modern in every respect.

The layout of the entire book was designed by the brothers Heinz and Bodo Rasch.