Museums of applied arts are valuable sources of inspiration in an age that needs to decarbonise and fundamentally rethink its production methods. The Grassi Museum in Leipzig, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, is one of the great museums in Europe.
By Thomas Wagner
Decorative arts museums are often derided. They are seen as repositories of dusty, outdated objects. However, museums are functional time machines and unique intellectual energy sources. They prove their worth as institutions of vigilant historical consciousness and as places for encountering artifacts that have played a significant role in cultural development cycles—and can play a significant role again in contemporary or future discourse. One museum where the transition from craft to design, from individual production to standardized mass production can be traced through its history is the Grassi Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.
The Museum as Historical Echo Chamber
“A similarly disruptive transformation, described today by terms such as digitalisation, climate crisis, disruption and transformation, took place in the 19th century. The steam engine, the railway, electrical engineering and, more generally, the emergence of a society based on industrial processes (with all the economic, environmental and social consequences this entailed) fundamentally changed the conditions of living and production at the time. Today, those debating the role of design in decarbonisation and the need for a fundamental shift in thinking and action will find historical echo chambers in places like the Grassi Museum to better interpret the ruptures in their own present. In response to industrialisation, not only were applied arts schools founded in the 19th century as innovative centres of craft and artistic education, but applied arts museums were also established as places of taste formation (often associated with applied arts schools). Similar collaborations in education are much in demand today.
One of a Kind in Europe
The best place to study the evolution of craftsmanship through the many ruptures, changes, counter-movements and reconciliations to the contemporary state of design is in a building like the Grassi Museum, one of the most important institutions of its kind in Europe, with around 230,000 objects (over 5,000 in the permanent exhibition alone). Today, places like the Grassi Museum are the source of all the inspiration needed to successfully move from the past to the future, when we talk about crossovers and hybrid transformations that feed on different fields. What’s more, the museum’s eventful history reflects the political and economic upheavals of the last hundred years in both East and West.
From Applied Arts to Design
The museum was founded in 1874. It was the second arts and crafts museum in Germany after Berlin. The Grassi Museum is named after Franz Dominik Grassi (1801 – 1880), an Italian businessman from Leipzig who died bequeathing over two million marks to his native city for the construction and completion of many works, parks and monuments. The old Grassi Museum, built by Hugo Licht between 1892 and 1895, originally housed the Museum of Ethnology and the Museum of Decorative Arts. (The building now houses the Leipzig City Library).
One of the Great Museological Buildings of the Weimar Republic
The bold and forward-looking spirit with which modern design developed and broke away from its artisanal roots is also evident in the architecture of the new building, which was constructed during the Weimar Republic. Built between 1925 and 1929, it is one of the few major German museum buildings from the Weimar Republic. Designed for the historic area between the Old St. John’s Cemetery and St. John’s Square by the Leipzig City Architect of the time, Hubert Ritter, in collaboration with the firm of Zweck and Voigt, the extensive complex is based on the tradition of European palace architecture and combines a functionalist architectural language with expressive Art Deco decorative forms. The crown of the roof, the ‘golden pineapple’, is visible from afar. The heart of the museum is the dynamic, zigzagging columned hall, built in 1927, and the 18 tall glass windows of the main staircase, designed by Josef Albers in 1926, influenced by the cool rationality of the Bauhaus. At the beginning of December 1943, the museum complex was severely damaged by incendiary and explosive bombs. Although the first temporary exhibitions resumed in 1949, only the most essential conservation work was carried out during the GDR period. It was not until after reunification, between 2000 and 2005, that the building complex (including the courtyards and the adjacent park-like Old Johannis Cemetery) was thoroughly renovated. (The Josef Albers windows were reconstructed in 2011.) The building now houses the Grassi Museum of Applied Arts, the Grassi Museum of Ethnology and the Grassi Museum of Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig.
The Collections Through the Ages
“The extensive collections are almost encyclopaedic in terms of materials, periods and regions of origin, and offer a fascinating overview of the evolution from handicraft to industrial forms. The museum, which changed its name to the Grassi Museum of Applied Art in 2005, reopened at the end of 2007 with a new permanent exhibition that includes the areas ‘Antique to Historicism’, ‘Asian Art: Inspiration for Europe’ and ‘Art Nouveau to the present day’. It is not only the historical panorama that is enlightening, but also the developments of Modernism and the design parallels between East and West. To give just two examples: The dialogue between East and West is evident in Clauss Dietel’s ‘rk 3’ phonograph combination, designed in 1966 for Heliradio – Gerätebau Hempel KG Limbach-Oberfrohna, ten years after Braun’s ‘Phonosuper SK 4’ by Gugelot and Rams. The ‘Stern-Club’ radio receiver, designed around 1968 by VEB Kombinat Stern-Radio Berlin, with its youthful and appealing ‘mobility’, is close to the zeitgeist of both East and West.
Upcoming Exhibitions at the Grassi Museum
To mark the 150th anniversary, a series of exhibitions and events will take place in the second half of this year. In addition to the ‘Grassi Open Air Summer’ and the ‘Grassi Festival’ on 8 September, the show ‘A Chair and You’, skilfully staged by Robert Wilson, will be on show until 6 October, presenting a selection of chairs designed by artists, designers and architects – from Ron Arad, Niki de Saint Phalle, Daniel Libeskind, Donald Judd, Frank Gehry, Franz West, Lawrence Weiner and Ettore Sottsass to Robert Wilson himself. From 25 to 27 October, the annual Grassimesse takes place, with more than 140 exhibitors selling their latest works in around 80 stands. From 9 November to 5 October 2025, ‘Merci. Merci. Grazie. Hartelijk Dank’ will present a selection of historical and contemporary objects from the wealth of new acquisitions made in recent years. Also in November, the special exhibition ‘Futures. Materials and Design of Tomorrow’, which explores the fascination of future visions and scenarios at the interface of biology, design, art and industry.
About the Author
Thomas Wagner, born in 1955, studied German and Philosophy in Heidelberg and Brighton (Sussex). While still a student, he worked as an art critic and freelance journalist. From 1986 he wrote for the art section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, where he was senior editor for visual arts and design from 1991 to 2007. He then became a freelance writer, art critic and columnist. He is currently developing an online magazine for Stylepark. He was editor of the German Design Council’s designreport magazine and is currently online editor at ndion. Thomas Wagner has taught as a substitute, visiting and honorary professor and was a founding member of the DGTF. He has been and still is a member of numerous juries.
