Alberto Rack

The Gruppe Pentagon was a Cologne-based design collective founded by Gerd Arens, Wolfgang Laubersheimer, Reinhard Müller, Ralph Sommer and Meyer Voggenreiter. These founding artists eschewed the prevailing style of German design in the 1980s, which prized functionality, industrial-production and ideas surrounding “good taste”. Their revolutionary ethos represented a radical departure from the traditional bourgeois approach, instead exploring imaginative and playful forms of experimentation to bridge the gap between art and music.

German designer Hermann Becker was a part of the post-modern group. Becker designed his Alberto Rack in 1988. Inspired by the sculptor Alberto Giacometti, the coat rack is made of steel and brass. Reminiscent of Giacometti’s distinctive sculptural works, the elongated arm and hand form a surreal but functional piece of furniture. The raw metal appears organically textured, demonstrating evidence of the human hand.