Egon Rainer’s “Order and Liveliness” in Innsbruck’s aut | Tyrolean daily newspaper online

Egon Rainers stapelbarer Freischwinger von 1966.

© studio casali

Innsbruck – “I don’t believe in furniture in the traditional sense, in the rigid construction, but much more in variable elements placed freely in the room.” A – shortened – sentence by the designer Egon Rainer, whose designs created around 1970 by Innsbruck-based aut were rediscovered. Rainer, born in Innsbruck in 1938 and originally from the carpentry trade, who did his Master of Art at the Royal College of Art in London, is largely forgotten, although his furniture systems around 1970 enjoyed international renown for a few years. His designs, for example, in the renowned magazine Domus published, presented at international furniture fairs.

Although he is in the spirit of the times, Rainer has never really found a connection to the international design scene. In this regard, he was probably standing in his own way, after all, it wasn’t even for him to sell himself, to become dependent, to make concessions. In order to turn more and more away from the applied and to the fine arts, especially the sculptural, or to find his calling as a teacher for interior design at the Innsbruck HTL.

However, the exhibition in the aut traces the designer Egon Rainer. By placing his ingenious and easily pluggable, stackable or modular furniture systems on a large platform, surrounded by texts that make it clear how he ticked as a furniture inventor.

A 2.50 meter long “Kneissl-Super-Star”, which Rainer not only designed in 1970, but was also involved in the development of materials, hovers over a table equipped with glass objects and small models. Photos show how futuristic his thinking still seems today. For example the – completely preserved – apartment that Tyrol’s former cultural councilor Fritz Prior had Egon Rainer set up for himself. (closed)

Plugged & modular

aut. architecture and tyrol. Lois-Welzenbacher-Platz 1, Innsbruck; until June 19, Tue – Fri 11 am–6pm, Sat 11 am–5pm.

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