MKG Hamburg
Redrawing the line between art and industry
Magnificent Ottoman coranas, Verner Panton's Speigelkantine, showpieces by Issey Miyake and 500,000 other works from 4,000 years of human creativity live under one roof at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. We translated these contrasts into the museum's corporate design. Since then, the institution has relied on our expertise in terms of its guidance system, website as well as campaigns and exhibition catalogs.
In the logo for the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, we picked up on the diversity of different eras and cultures. While the almost ornamental et sign signals a clear break in the unadorned logotype, it also represents a unifying element between the museum's two disciplines. The use of the color gold is a reminiscence of precisely that material which, across cultures, stands for the extraordinary and the imperishable.
The extensive collection publication, not only celebrates the richness of the collections of the MKG, but also tells of 4000 years of human creativity through unique objects. The exhibits, selected beyond collection areas and material value standards, show what needs and desires moved mankind and what relevance the design of early living spaces has for today. An inspiring expedition from the first advanced civilizations to the innovations of modernity.
A building with enormous dimensions, an even larger collection and a lively exhibition schedule calls for a guidance system that is as reliable as it is flexible: it should provide visitors with orientation - without restricting the exhibition organizers in their spatial planning - and without disturbing the finely restored interior architecture. We have developed four components that fulfill this task in interaction: Elegant metal angles with different color coding can be variably attached to columns and walls and labeled on site. Frost foils use the large glass surfaces to guide visitors through the corridors. Staircase banners draw attention to the highlights with striking images of works. And large blocks with tear-off overview plans are available throughout the building.
