beautyme collections culture cuisine motor music search
8 December 2023
Vienna Insight: Exhibition on the work of designer Louis Lucien Lepoix, who created the BIC lighter, the Puck Maxi, the forearm crutch and designed for Bugatti, Steyr,..., at designforum Wien
Yesterday, Fashion.at took part in the press tour of the exhibition 'L3 Louis Lucien Lepoix', led by Erika Kübler, the designer's longtime collaborator since 1962, archivist of his designs and co-author of the book '50 Jahre Technische Ästhetik', written together with Lepoix since 1997 and published posthumously in 2003. Louis Lucien Lepoix lived from 1918 to 1998. The archive was created in 2005 and today comprises some 55,000 files of designs and other documents such as correspondence. The exhibition at designforum Wien, the space of the professional organization of Austrian designers 'designaustria', was developed from this extensive basis. It's the first of a series that will continue next year in Baden-Baden, Germany.
The reason why the exhibition starts in Austria is the importance of Louis Lucien Lepoix for the Austrian automotive industry, especially for the products of Steyr - from the legendary Puch Maxi, the city bus to tractors and trucks. The tractors, by the way, played an important role in the idea of planning an exhibition in Vienna. Yesterday, Martin Foessleitner of designaustria talked about the moment when the idea was born. While using his Steyr tractor, he wondered who was behind the design. The search for designers of Steyr tractors led him to the name Louis Lucien Lepoix and then to the extensive archive managed by Erika Kübler in Baden-Baden, Germany. The next steps were a trip to Baden-Baden and the development of the exhibition, which will be on view from tomorrow, December 9, until February 11, 2024, under the title 'L3' (standing for the three 'L's in the designer's name, which he used as a signature 'L3' on his designs).
The exhibition shows that the successful designer's work wasn't always easy. Rejected designs, such as the outfits for the Concorde flight attendants, to realized designs for the interior of the Concorde, or the BIC lighter, designed by Lepoix and produced to this day, are also part of the exhibition, as is the wind turbine LEPOiD, which found no manufacturing partner in the year of its creation in 1981. But Lepoix didn't let the setbacks stop him. With over 3,000 product designs, Louis Lucien Lepoix is one of the most prolific industrial designers in the second half of the 20th century. For example, the Folding Service Cart produced after his design is part of the MOMA collection in New York (https://www.moma.org/collection/works/3201).
When one of the journalists asked which design he was most proud of, Erika Kübler thought for a moment and said it was the Bugatti, because when he was commissioned to design the car in 1949, he hadn't yet had any major successes, but he had an ace up his sleeve: in 1948 he had built a sports car body on a purchased chassis. Lepoix applied to Bugatti with this car. More information about the work of the designer and the exhibition can be found at https://www.lepoix.info/.
Images, from left: Erika Kübler, book author and archivist of the work of Louis Lucien Lepoix at the press tour of the exhibition 'L3 Louis Lucien Lepoix' standing in front of drafts for the Bugatti at designforum Wien on December 7, 2023. The exhibition will run from December 9, 2023 to February 11, 2024. Right: Exhibition view with photos of Steyr trucks and tractors designed by Lepoix, as well as fashion sketches for flight attendant uniforms and aircraft interiors.
RSS Feed