Design

The internationally renowned design collection is one of the highest quality and largest collections of its kind in Europe.

As early as the 1920s, the museum promoted the perception of exemplary industrial products with corresponding exhibition activities. From the 1970s at the latest, these were specifically collected.
The MAKK has a rich collection of objects that are of fundamental importance for the development and history of international design. These include visually and technically innovative seating furniture from the classic bentwood chair by the Thonet brothers to the tubular steel cantilever chairs of the Bauhaus era by Marcel Breuer or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, laminated wood furniture by Alvar Aalto or Charles and Ray Eames, unusual combinations of materials from the tractor seat stool by Achille Castiglioni to the concrete plinth chair by Konstantin Grcic, as well as sculptural furniture in an organic, flowing design language by Amanda Levete or Zaha Hadid.

Almost all important designers are represented in the Cologne collection with representative works. In addition, there are special focal points such as what is probably the most extensive collection of innovative halogen lamps from the early days of this lighting technology, a large collection of various devices, e.g. from Apple, Braun and Olivetti, American and European radios from the 1930s to the present day as well as countless sets of tableware, glasses and cutlery from all leading companies and manufacturers.
As in the historical collections - and consistently derived from them - the collection is primarily interested in formally and technically highly innovative products that characterize the private sphere and reflect the changes in taste and technology of the last 170 years.