Deutscher Werkbund

(German Association of Craftsmen), an organization of architects, artisans, and industrialists founded in Munich in 1907 for the purpose of reorganizing the building trades and the artistic crafts on a modern industrial basis. H. Muthesius, H. K. van de Velde, T. Fischer, F. Schumacher, R. Riemerschmid, F. Naumann, and K. E. Osthaus were among the founders of the Deutscher Werkbund. P. Behrens, W. Gropius, L. Mies van der Rohe, H. Poelzig, B. Taut, J. Hoffmann, and Le Corbusier were associated with the organization.

When designing models for mass production (utensils, furniture, fabrics, compartments in railroad cars, steamship cabins, and interiors of motor vehicles), the members of the Werkbund tried to give them simple, purposeful, and functionally justified forms. The members also designed the interiors of buildings. The Deutscher Werkbund’s largest exhibits (Cologne, 1914; Stuttgart, 1927) greatly influenced international industrial art. The organization published the Jahrbuch des Deutschen Werkbundes (1912–22) and the journal Die Form (1925–33). In 1933 the Werkbund was dissolved by the fascists; it was reestablished in Düsseldorf in 1947.