e15 Ferdinand Kramer Collection at Living Edge

FK04 CALVERT & FK05 CHARLOTTE Coffee Tables from e15, shown with CM05 HABIBI and SF03 SHIRAZ.

FK04 CALVERT & FK05 CHARLOTTE Coffee Tables from e15.

Earlier last year at Salone Internazionale del Mobile, e15 unveiled an exceptional collection of re-editions by renowned modernist German architect and designer Ferdinand Kramer®. Working closely with Kramer’s family and the archives, twelve iconic pieces from various creative periods were showcased from 1925 to 1959. The good news is that the two coffee tables from this stunning collection are now available in Australia exclusively through Living Edge.

Update – the entire Ferdinand Kramer® is available for order through Living Edge with approximate 12 week lead-time. Charlotte & Calvert coffee tables are in stock.

FK04 CALVERT Coffee Table
Designer: Ferdinand Kramer, 1951

FK04 CALVERT is from a series of coffee tables, designed in 1951 by Ferdinand Kramer® during his time in America. Part of his successful “Knock-Down” furniture series, the square FK04 CALVERT is an enduring and modern piece. The easily invertible and collapsible coffee table consists of a tabletop and two crossing invertible sheets serving as a base for the table. Similar to a clothing pattern, the components of the table are cut out of a single plywood sheet. Available in oak or walnut veneer as well as coloured lacquer.

Earlier this year, the FK04 CALVERT has been awarded the prestigious Wallpaper* Design Award 2013 for best re-issue.

FK05 CHARLOTTE Coffee Table
Designer: Ferdinand Kramer, 1951

FK05 CHARLOTTE is the second from a series of coffee tables, designed in 1951 also during Ferdinand Kramer’s® time in America. Named after his friend, the artist Charlotte Poseneske, the round coffee table FK05 CHARLOTTE bares sculptural qualities grounded in enduring and contemporary relevance. Similar to a clothing pattern, the table’s components are cut out of a single plywood sheet. The easily invertible and collapsible FK05 CHARLOTTE is also part of Ferdinand Kramer’s® successful “Knock-Down” series. The measurements of the base are identical to those of the square FK04 CALVERT. Its round table top however makes FK05 CHARLOTTE the larger of the two coffee tables. FK05 CHARLOTTE is available in oak or walnut veneer as well as coloured lacquer.

Ferdinand Kramer, 1930, Kramer Archive.

Ferdinand Kramer

Ferdinand Kramer was born in 1898 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In 1916 he began studying architecture in Munich. In 1919 he attended the Bauhaus in Weimar; however he returned to Munich after a few months due to being disappointed with the lack of regular architecture training. Walter Gropius expressed his dismay at Kramer’s decision in a handwritten letter consisting of several pages.

After completing his studies in 1922, Kramer designed small furniture pieces and other everyday items, including some furniture pieces for Thonet. From 1930, he worked as a freelance architect. Due to the modernity of his designs and the Jewish heritage of his wife Beate Kramer, born Feith, he was barred from the “Reichskammer der bildenden Künste” (Third Reich’s Imperial Chamber of Fine Arts) and banned from carrying out his profession.

Apartment Ferdinand Kramer, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, 1953.
Photo: Sigrid Neubert, Kramer Archive.

House Albert von Metzler, Arnoldshain / Taunus, 1957, Kramer Archive.

In 1938 Kramer followed his wife to the USA, where he worked in various architecture and design offices, before he was licensed as an architect in 1940. Yet, Kramer worked mainly as a designer in New York: He developed progressive goods presentation systems for shopping centres, a transportable electric mini kitchen, his successful DIY “knock down” furniture, as well as his famous disposable umbrella “Rainbelle”.

Ferdinand Kramer, 1970, Photo: Trebor, Kramer Archive.

Appointed as the Building Director of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Kramer returned to Frankfurt in 1952, where he planned the university buildings to the smallest detail of the interior and thus lastingly shaped the appearance of the Frankfurt University. In 1961 Kramer married his second wife, Lore Kramer, born Koehn, with whom he had three children. From 1964 onwards, he continued his work in his own office and planned projects such as Frankfurt’s City and University Library. During his lifetime, Kramer was awarded countless prizes, distinctions and tributes for his work. Kramer died in 1958 in Frankfurt am Main.

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