100 Years of Loewe Design History – Accompanying Volume to the Exhibition

Marketing

To mark the anniversary of the cult brand Loewe:

In the iF ranking, Loewe is among the top 10 German companies honored for extraordinary design achievements. Reason enough to take a closer look at the company's design history in a book to commemorate its 100th anniversary in 2023. For this purpose, design historian Kilian Steiner has authored a volume to accompany the Loewe Design exhibition at the Festung Rosenberg in Kronach (open March 2 to October 29, 2023).

Kilian Steiner divides the publication "Loewe. 100 Jahre Designgeschichte – 100 Years Design History" into three historical stages: The first period (1923 to 1945) marks the establishment and destruction of the Loewe brand. The second period (1945 to 1985) focuses on the reconstruction of Loewe and the overcoming of numerous upheavals. The third period (1985 to 2023) finally sees Loewe's rise to become an internationally renowned design brand. This is the first time that the creative minds from product and communication design who contributed to building the Loewe brand are named and previously unknown details of Loewe's company history are elaborated.

The publication clearly shows that Loewe paid particular attention to the design of its products from the end of the 1920s at the latest. Accordingly, Loewe set remarkable accents with the EB 100 radio receiver, the television prototypes designed in the Art Deco style, and then especially with the Opta 537 and Opta 838 radio receivers. Starting in 1936, Loewe marketing also became more professional, and under the motto "It's the sound that counts!" Loewe implemented its first cross-media campaign with the help of international advertising filmmakers and graphic designers such as Alexandre Alexeïeff (1901-1982) and Friedrich Kral (1905-1990).

During the reconstruction years in the period from the new beginning in 1945 to the management buyout in 1985, Loewe initially mastered the steps of reinventing design competence on the fly until about 1955. However, design and communication were not intertwined. Only in the face of the economic crisis in 1966/67, Loewe took the first steps towards design as a strategy, initiating and successfully implementing the design-oriented "line 2001" by in-house designer Heinz Jünger. In addition, starting in 1972, the company relied only on the word mark Loewe. All in all, however, this was only a brief flare-up until 1977 – not until under the management of Dieter Motte and (from 1981) Helmut Ricke, design and brand were given a new status and were continuously sharpened.

However, it was not until 1985 that design was firmly established as a strategy at Loewe. As a company and design consultant, Motte now brought some illustrious names from the design scene to Kronach in Upper Franconia, such as Hubertus Carl Frey (1929-2003), known as "HC", or the Phoenix Design agency. In addition, the Swiss designer and brand strategist Jörg Zintzmeyer (1947-2009) had a decisive influence on Loewe's company and design history. Subsequently, brand and design paired with innovative technology proved to be guarantors of survival for the company.

From its founding in 1923 to the invention of electronic television in 1931, Loewe has developed into a globally active design brand. The unique combination of German engineering, excellence, exclusive design and quality continue to shape the brand culture to the present day.

Publication details
Loewe. 100 Jahre Designgeschichte – 100 Years Design History
Ed. Loewe Technology GmbH / Author: Kilian Steiner
Price: 32.00 EUR

The publication will be issued in early March 2023 by Verlag avedition - winner of the German Publishing Prize 22 - in Stuttgart: https://www.avedition.de/de/
ISBN: 978-3-89986-390-1
Language: German / English
Approx. 200 pages, hardcover, approx. 100 illustrations