Ferdinand Kramer

Ferdi­nand Kramer was a German archi­tect, inte­rior, and furni­ture designer renowned for his mini­mal­ist and func­tional approach. Born in Frank­furt in 1898, he briefly studied at the Bauhaus before contin­u­ing his educa­tion in Munich under Theodor Fischer.

In the 1920s, Kramer collab­o­rated with Thonet on furni­ture designs and devel­oped inno­v­a­tive prod­ucts like metal uten­sils and the Kramer Oven. He played a key role in the New Frank­furt housing project along­side Ernst May. Forced to flee Germany in 1938, Kramer emigrated to the United States, where he pioneered knock-down fold­able furni­ture, a defin­ing aspect of his legacy.

Return­ing to Germany in 1952, he became Direc­tor of Build­ing at Goethe Univer­sity in Frank­furt, design­ing 23 build­ings that shaped the university’s archi­tec­tural iden­tity. Today, Kramer’s work remains influ­en­tial, embody­ing the Bauhaus ethos of simplic­ity, utility, and modernist innovation.