Born in Frankfurt, Ferdinand Kramer (1898–1985) started working in the city’s building authority in the autumn of 1925. Until 1930, he was involved in the comprehensive plan for municipal housing construction–the so called New Frankfurt–as an architect and designer for the “standardization” department. Under the direction of city planning officer Ernst May, around 12,000 small but well-equipped apartments as well as schools, industrial buildings, and public facilities were built in just a few years. Kramer designed numerous simple and extremely practical interior elements, such as furniture, lights, and door fittings.

He designed the jug shown here, however, before he was employed by the city of Frankfurt. It is part of an ensemble consisting of a cooking pot, milk and tea pot, a coal box and a fireplace tool set, which the designer developed from copper, sheet iron, or brass for the Frankfurt metalworking company Emil Graf. Simple shapes, inexpensive materials, but high-quality production that guarantees longevity—these were the premises for Kramer’s work. The items were intended for consumers who had to be frugal with their money but still wanted to furnish their homes tastefully.

Kramer was banned from his profession in 1937 and followed his wife Beate Kramer (née Feith) to the USA a year later. In exile, he developed numerous simple and very practical consumer goods and designed modern furnishings for stores and businesses. In 1952, he returned to Frankfurt at the request of Max Horkheimer, social philosopher and director of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research until its closure in 1933. Between 1952 and 1964, as Director of Building at Goethe University Frankfurt, Kramer implemented the general plan (overall planning of all individual buildings including roads, access, and development requirements) and a total of 23 university buildings, including their interiors. From a structural point of view, the designs mark a radical and democratic new beginning for academia in Frankfurt after the Second World War. Ferdinand Kramer lived and worked in Frankfurt until his death on November 4, 1985.