Design

The MAKK’s internationally renowned design collection is one of the largest and most outstanding collections of its kind in Europe.

Besides the pieces included in the permanent exhibition, the museum owns a rich design collection that forms the basis for both special exhibitions and research in the field of cultural studies. The collection includes seating furniture, characterised by innovative forms and technology and ranging from the classic Thonet bentwood chair to the tubular steel cantilever chairs from the Bauhaus era, designed by Marcel Breuer or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, to plywood furniture by Alvar Aalto or Charles and Ray Eames, and to extraordinary combinations from Achille Castiglioni’s tractor seat to Konstantin Grcic’s concrete base chair.

Representative pieces by almost all renowned designers are included in the MAKK’s collection. Furthermore, there are special areas of focus such as probably the most comprehensive collection of innovative halogen lighting from the technology’s early days; a large stock of various products by, for example, Braun, Olivetti and Macintosh; American and European radios from the 1930s to the present, as well as countless sets of tableware, glassware and cutlery by all leading manufacturers.

Consistent with the historic collections, the design collection predominantly focuses on products that are innovative with regard to design and technology, that shape personal lifestyles and that mirror the changes in taste and technology over the last one hundred years.

Please notice!

The permanent exhibition "Art + Design in Dialogue" will be closed due to window renovation from 12 June until probably mid-September 2023.