d19 NEWS / OBITUARY
G
erd Bulthaup was the CEO of Bulthaup from 1978 through to 2002, when he retired from the day-to-day running of the company, but
he continued to play an active part in the convention-defying concepts behind the furniture the company produces. And by offering an alternative to kitchen design dictated by room shape, provided the first new thinking on kitchen design since the Frankfurt kitchen of the 1930’s and put the function of the kitchen first. The three ranges of furniture Bulthaup currently offers were all introduced during Gerd Bulthaup’s time with the company.
The first fruits of Bulthaup's original thinking came in 1980 when he teamed up with German designer Otl Aicher. Aicher’s concept was to look at the kitchen as a workshop, and was obviously frustrated by the room shape dictating the layout of the kitchen furniture and working areas.
In 1988, they started the move away from the confines of room shape with the
launch of the System 20 kitchen featuring a freestanding workbench and introduced the concept of professional kitchens into a domestic setting. System 20 combined an industrial style of kitchen furniture with the timeless qualities of Scandinavian design. “I love Italian design” Gerd Bulthaup said. “For fabrics and clothing it is exceptional. But when it comes to furniture, my tastes are more Nordic.”
The design flexibility Bulthaup wanted to provide came with the launch of B3 in 2004. At the heart of B3 is a multifunction wall. Using technology influenced by the aircraft industry, the wall can carry services around the kitchen space and used to hang furniture from it so that it seems to ‘float’ in the room. This gives the designer almost unlimited freedom to plan the ‘perfect’ kitchen space, and the whole interior living area. The floorplan of the kitchen is no longer dictated by the shape of the space, but the kitchen itself can shape the space it is in.
In 2008, Bulthaup, in collaboration with the design house EOOS of Vienna, launched
B2 – a kitchen that was true to Otl Aicher’s kitchen ‘workshop’ concept with individual, freestanding workstations and a new version of the Bulthaup workbench. This was followed with the Bulthaup System B1. Bulthaup B1’s design has a strong Scandinavian style, but because it is based around a more conventional carcase system and offers fewer cabinet options than B3, it has a lower price point.
“For many people, B3 is an aspirational interiors programme,” Gerd Bulthaup said. “They would love to own B3 but currently cannot afford to. What are these people going to do? Perhaps they are going to go to IKEA if, like me, they love the Scandinavian style of furniture. We didn’t want to lose them, so we introduced System B1.
“B1 will give more people ownership of a genuine Bulthaup kitchen, the opportunity to get to understand our philosophy with ‘hands-on’ experience and then, when they are ready, buy their B3 kitchen.” d
Bulthaup /
bulthaup.com/en
designer kitchen & bathroom
designerkbmag.co.uk
SEP 2019
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