The Reimann School: A Design Diaspora

Yasuko Suga

Artmonsky Arts. First Edition 2014

100pp

The Reimann School in London was a successor to the Reimann Schule in Berlin, opened by a German Jewish sculptor and artisan, Albert Reimann, in 1902. In late 1936, another school was opened in London in the same line, staffed by many of the original teachers and students from Berlin and from other countries. In retrospect, it is extraordinary to see how much contemporary impact, and indeed long-term influence the Reimann School was to have on British design culture up to the beginning of the Second World War. This book is an attempt to bring to light the transnational history of the school, an interesting case of a design diaspora.

Book chapters:

Introduction

The Reimann Schule in Berlin

The Move to England

The Reimann School in London

Display

Commercial Art

Fashion and Dressmaking

Photography

Interior Design

World War II

Post-War Legacy

Teaching staff at the Reimann School included:

Austin Cooper

Walter Nurnberg (studied at Reimann in Berlin)

Manfred Reiss

Werner Graeff (studied at Reimann in Berlin)

Heinz Loew (trained at Bauhaus Dessau)

Robert Harling

Richard Hamilton

Milner Gray

Edward McKnight Kauffer

Natasha Kroll

Dorrit Deck

Alex Kroll

Yasuko Suga teaches British history and design history at Tsuda College. She acts as the secretary of the Design History Workshop Japan and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Her PhD, completed at the Royal College of Art, explored the GPO's visual propaganda in the interwar period. She has published books and a variety of academic journals on aspects of British and Japanese design.