Marianne Brandt was a German designer and one of the first female designers at the Bauhaus. She studied painting and sculpture from 1911-1917 before joining the Bauhaus in 1923. There, she worked primarily in the metal workshop under László Moholy-Nagy, designing household items like lamps, ashtrays, and tea services. Her designs were some of the most successful produced by the Bauhaus. After leaving the Bauhaus in 1929, she continued working as a freelance designer until her retirement in 1954. Brandt helped establish women as legitimate designers and is recognized for her influential metalwork designs.

1. Marianne Brandt

2. Basic Information
• Born in Chemnitz, Germany on 6th November 1893
• Brandt is best known for being the first woman
Bauhaus designer. Moholy-Nagy called her his "best
and most ingenious student,“.

3. Work, Education & Life Events
• 1911-17: Studies painting and sculpture at the Royal
Saxon Academy for the Fine Arts.
• 1919: Married Erik Brandt, a Norwegian painter, in
Christiana. The Brandts lived in Norway and the South of
France, before joining the Weimar Bauhaus in 1923. They
divorced in 1935.
• 1917-23: Works as free lace artist.
• 1924: Attends the Vorkus (foundation course), Weimer.

4. • 1925-26: Trainee in the machine shop run by
the Bauhaus (from 1925 in Dessau); during this
period mainly designs metal objects for
domestic use.
• 1927-29: Deputy manager of the machine
shop; concerns herself primarily with designing
light fittings for various companies.
• 1929: Bauhaus diploma; employed briefly by
Walter Gropius’s firm in Berlin.

5. • 1930-33: Artistic assistant at the metal ware factory
Rupplewerk, Gotha.
• 1933-49: Works as freelace artist.
• 1949-54: Employed as teacher at the state school
for Applied Arts, Dresden and the School for the
Applied Arts, Berlin- Weissensee.
• 1983: Passes away at the age of 89 on June 18th in
Kirchbery, Saxony.

6. Influences
• László Moholy-Nagy was
a significant influence on
Marianne as she spent
her time at the
workshop. He was fond
of her work and ideas
and Marianne looked up
to him almost like an
inspiration for the way
she designed. She
continued her training at
the Bauhaus in Dessau
and continued her work
in the metal workshop
with László Moholy-Nagy

7. Marianne's Designs
• Brandt’s designs for metal ashtrays, tea and coffee services, lamps and other
household objects are now recognized as among the best of both Weimar
and Dessau Bauhaus. Further, they were among the few Bauhaus designs to
be mass-produced during the interwar period, and several of them are
currently available as reproductions.

8. Interesting Facts
• She made a very vast amount of
different types of lamps.
• Although she was extremely talented
and successful at the Bauhaus,
Marianne Brandt never managed to
establish herself as a self-employed
industrial designer.

9. How has she influenced Design
• Marianne Brandt, whose leadership in
the metal department resulted in the
schools most profitable division.
• She contributed to the recognition of
Females as legitimate designers.

10. The End!
Presentation done by:
• Bon Scott: Presenter/ Researcher
• Skyler Jackson: Presenter/ Reasearcher
• Shinjii Tanaka: Reasearcher
• Ben Gesterkamp: Researcher
• Kenzie Matthews: Reasercher
• Trent Burley: Designer

11. APA Referencing
• Corbin, D (2008, July 15). Retreieved April 10, 2013 from
http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T010924
• Marianne Brandt. (2013). Retrieved April 10, 2013, from bauhaus-
online.de/en/atlas/personen/marianne-brandt.
• Dearstyne H. & Spaeth D. (1986) Inside the Bauhaus. Rizzioli- New York
• Neumann E. (1993) Bauhaus and Bauhaus People. Van Nostrand Reinhold- New York
• Albus V., Kras R. & Woodham J. M. (Unkown) Icons of Design The 20th Century. Prestel-
Munich, London, New York.