Rolf Fehlbaum – författare

Presented in this oversize publication are 146 aerospace-related toys from the collection of Rolf Fehlbaum, Vitra’s chairman emeritus and the founder of Vitra Design Museum. Toys related to space exploration—rockets, robots and astronaut figurines—exploded in popularity in the 1930s with the success of space opera comic strips such as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, which portrayed postwar fantasies of untold technological possibilities. From there, sci-fi only gained a wider audience as the Soviet/American space race began and people of all ages turned their gazes skywards to wonder about what marvels may exist beyond Earth’s orbit.The toys in this volume are shown at their original size with the available packaging, organised into ten categories and arranged in chronological order by their manufacture dates. Some of the toys depict amusing conjectures for the future of aeronautical exploration such as space dogs, space elephants and even a space whale, while others are more realistic replicas of rockets in miniature. Infused with an undeniable nostalgia, this collection maintains the childlike wonder of the toys’ initial audiences and invites present-day readers to both reflect on the era’s technological advancements and look to the future for what discoveries may still be on the horizon.

This new publication is dedicated to the Baranger Motion Displays of the R. F. Collection housed at the Vitra Design Museum. Motion Displays were conceived as eye-catching and novel moving objects, which – primarily in the US – were used in jewellers’ shop-window displays to attract customers. The Baranger Motion Displays were produced by Baranger Studios in Pasadena, CA between 1937 and 1957 and were lent to thousands of jewellers’ shops over the years. Primarily during the 1990s, Rolf Fehlbaum, Vitra Chairman Emeritus and founder of the Vitra Design Museum, worked to assemble a carefully selected a comprehensive collection of these objects in Weil am Rhein.With large-scale illustrations of the different Motion Displays and an atmospheric photo essay featuring black-and-white details of the objects, the book provides an unprecedented and in-depth view into this collection. In an accompanying essay, Bill Shaffer traces the success story of the displays and sheds light on the significance of the red cases in which they were delivered to the jewellers.Along with Robots 1:1 and Space Fantasies 1:1, Baranger Motion Displays is the third publication to focus on the R. F. Collection. Visitors can view the collection of Motion Displays at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein as part of the “Wunderkammer” (cabinet of curiosities), which also presents other parts of Rolf Fehlbaum’s wide-ranging collection. In order for readers to be able to experience the wonders of these moving objects for themselves, each Motion Display has been given a QR Code in the book which links to an entertaining video clip of the display in action.

The catalogue of a unique collection, ROBOTS 1:2 presents the space-themed toys in the R. F. Robot Collection held by the Vitra Design Museum. "Small kinetic sculptures of great originality": that is how Rolf Fehlbaum, Chairman Emeritus of Vitra and founder of the Vitra Design Museum, describes the objects in his collection. In many years of careful research, he compiled a rare Wunderkammer of toy robots made mainly in Japan between 1937 and 1973.The term robot was coined in 1921 by Czech writer Karel Capek in his play R. U. R., which foreshadowed some of the impact robots have had on human lives – from relieving us of hard, dangerous, or unpleasant tasks to taking over our jobs, from small everyday dependencies to shifts in social power dynamics.While the large-format predecessor to this book presented the exhibits in their original size, ROBOTS 1:2 shows the space toys on a 1:2 scale. The largest robot determines the size of the book: this conveys a sense of the uncanny ambivalence that clings to even the most playful representatives of their kind. The fantastic pictures on the original packaging often displayed alongside the figurines vividly illustrate an image of the future that by this time is itself part of our past.QR codes give access to short films showing a number of robots in action.The R. F. Robot Collection, housed in the »Wunderkammer« on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany, can be visited as part of a guided tour.For more information please go to www.design-museum.de.

Brazil unites some of the most creative manifestations of popular art in the world. By presenting works by the legendary Mestre Vitalino and other artists from Pernambuco, the Jequitinhonha Valley and Niterói An Art of Resilience fosters awareness of this amazing art of the people. This new publication documents Rolf Fehlbaum`s collection of popular art from Brazil. They are on display in the »Wunderkammer«, a gallery of special objects from the world of popular culture, located on the Vitra Campus. Rather than representing the full scope of Brazilian popular art this collection is based on specific personal choices that were formed by the first pieces, which were by Mestre Vitalino, Zé Caboclo, Adolton and Ulisses. While most of the objects deal individually with different aspects of life, there are three groups of objects that are treated separately: the Bumba Meu Boi spectacle, the Maracatu carnival procession, and the cruel raids of the cangaceiros around Lampião and Maria Bonita. The groups are accompanied by essays written by the Brazilian anthropologists Ricardo Lima and Guacira Waldeck.

This publication is accompanying the presentation »Tsuyoshi Tane: The Garden House« at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery, which is dedicated to the recently constructed Tane Garden House on the Vitra Campus. The idea to build a garden house on the Vitra Campus was initiated by Vitra Chairman Emeritus Rolf Fehlbaum. The building which is direct proximity of the Oudolf Garten, combines a rooftop viewing platform for Campus visitors and a meeting room for the gardeners who tend the grounds. Tsuyoshi Tane understood that this project was small in scale, but large in meaning. This is reflected in the Japanese architect’s unique design approach, which is based on an intensive research process that explores the local context in order to utilize traditional handicrafts as well as regional resources. Like an archaeologist, Tane started with a long period of exploration, researching the »memory of the place« where the project was being planned. Tsuyoshi Tane calls this approach »Archaeology of the Future«. The publication Tane Garden House provides a deep insight into the design process that stretched over several years. It documets the creation of the architectural project, including unrealised models, as well as sketches drawn by Tsuyoshi Tane. The appealing softcover book in a handy format does not only excite those interested in architecture, but also serves as a source of inspiration for the topic of building in the future.