Remembered classics: FSB 1147

As one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century, Ludwig Wittgenstein made important contributions to the philosophy of logic, language and consciousness. As part of the design of the so-called Palais Wittgenstein, his sister's residence in Vienna, he also devoted himself to architecture for the first time in the mid-1920s. As a result, Wittgenstein created a true door handle design icon. His minimalist design, made of a brass rod with a spherical end, is reduced to the bare essentials and appeals with clear lines. Represented today as an idiosyncratic FSB 1147 interpretation in the range of FSB, the Brakel-based premium hardware manufacturer, the design of the handle also left its mark on the company's visual language at the same time: the company owes its distinctive logo inspired by the philosopher's door handle to the collaboration with leading communication designer Otl Aicher that began in the mid-1980s.

When designing a house for his sister Margarete Stonborough-Wittgenstein in the style of the radical, minimalist Wie-ner Moderne in the second half of the 1920s, the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein himself designed details such as the door handles. For these, he chose a round brass rod, bent it 90 degrees and placed a bulbous forked end on it.

Since then, this reduced design has inspired numerous similar de-signs and is considered the archetypal model of door handles. Inspired by Wittgenstein's door handle, graphic designer Otl Aicher developed the striking FSB logo in the mid-1980s. The purpose of the logo was to immediately recognize a door handle at first glance. Aicher apparently knew Wittgenstein's design: one day Aicher cut the silhouette of the handle from a piece of cardboard and placed it on a white sheet of paper. The FSB logo, unique to this day, was born.

In his publication "Weltenentwerfen - Eine politische Designtheorie" (World designs - A political design theory), published in the
"edition suhrkamp" names Friedrich von Borries Otl Aicher, the FSB mentor who in his work "analog und digital" referred to Wittgenstein's stool as "door-knob per se," and Wittgenstein as a "pioneer" (Aicher 1991, p 111). Von Borries goes on to write about the connection between the form-design of a door handle and philosophy: "One can think about the essence of the world in a very principled and logical way and at the same time put one's full attention and labour into the design of a door handle. If one thinks about the world, one must simultaneously think about the door handle. And when one does that, the questions one wants to ask of the world are also answered in the door handle. So the small is always an anticipation of the whole. Even in the details, it always relates to the world. Good design designs the world rather than subjugates it - both in the small and in the large."

Today the FSB 1147 range is available in numerous versions. These include door handle and profile door furniture, roseless handles for windows and doors, classic window handles, lift/slide door handles, door handles for profile doors as well as glass door hardware and toilet fittings. All models are available in aluminum and stainless steel materials.

We find the reduced design by the philosopher's hand in the Nuremberg Exhibition Center, the Schlosserhof in Stuttgart and the Chemnitz Opera House, among others. The new Bauhaus Museum in Weimar, built by Berlin architect Heike Hanada, also uses the FSB 1147 model - albeit in a special version. Hanada fitted the enlarged doors of the new building with an XL version of the Wittgenstein door handle in the smooth, but not artificially refined finish "aluminum rough polished." The chosen version continues the rough and simple industrial character of the museum down to the smallest detail. The bright, silver appearance of the aluminum consistently complements the homogeneous steel doors in the raw concrete frame.