Opening “The unseen design classic” and film premiere

Cabinet exhibition

The exhibition opened with the premiere of the documentary "Chair EW 1192", followed by a discussion with concept creator Jacob Strobel, the filmmakers, and the protagonists.

Many know and appreciate it, but no one can provide detailed information about what is probably the most popular, and certainly the most widespread, kitchen chair of the GDR—until now.

As an anonymous yet ingenious everyday product, the “EW 1192” survived the decline of the Ore Mountains chair-making industry in the kitchens and hearts of many people from the former GDR. For a long time, it appeared only at flea markets and in classified ads, but neither in museums nor in design publications.

After an initial presentation at the German Chair Museum Rabenau, the “unseen design classic” curated by Martha and Jacob Strobel can now be discovered at the Chemnitz Museum of Industry.

At the exhibition opening, the 35-minute documentary Chair EW 1192 was also shown publicly for the first time. In the film, Mark Michel (director) and TELESKOP (production) explore this modest star of GDR design history. They trace its transformation from a widely used everyday object to a museum piece and back again—as a reinterpretation for possible series production.