Hansjerg Maier-Aichen began teaching as a professor of product design at the HfG Karlsruhe in 2002 and remained connected to the university through courses and seminars well into 2018, even after his retirement. During this time, he shaped the design curriculum through an approach that closely integrated design practice, an understanding of materials, and entrepreneurial experience. His teaching was grounded in an interdisciplinary understanding of design that deliberately crossed the boundaries between art, design, and industrial production.

Drawing on his own extensive travel experiences, particularly in Asia, he early on integrated into his teaching the impulse to look toward the East. He implemented this in his teaching over the years, for example through collaboration with the China Academy of Arts in Hangzhou.

Maier-Aichen studied painting and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he earned his master’s degree as a Fulbright scholar. His own career path—from visual artist to designer to entrepreneur—was deliberately unconventional and became an important point of reference for many students. He encouraged them to question disciplinary boundaries and to understand design as a comprehensive cultural process.

In 1983, he founded the design brand AUTHENTICS, with which he set international standards for everyday products with high design standards. For an entire generation of designers who are now among the defining voices in the field (including Konstantin Grcic and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec), AUTHENTICS became a crucial first step in their industrial practice. Through his collaboration with young designers, a broad spectrum of designs emerged that combined functionality, clarity, and precision. His interest always extended to production conditions and the responsibility of design in a consumer-driven society.

In addition to his work as a designer and entrepreneur, Maier-Aichen served as an author, curator, and consultant for international institutions. Among other things, he was involved with the German Design Council and served as a visiting professor at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London. After retiring from his entrepreneurial activities, he generously placed his diverse international contacts at the service of the university and its students. Following his retirement, he returned more fully to his artistic roots and once again devoted himself to sculpture.

His teaching at the HfG Karlsruhe was characterized by great curiosity, openness, and a keen eye for the complexity of creative processes. Students experienced him as a demanding yet inspiring teacher who encouraged independence and emphasized the value of precision as well as the productive engagement with imperfection.

With the passing of Hansjerg Maier-Aichen, the HfG Karlsruhe loses a defining figure who embodied the connection between art, design, and society in a unique way. His thinking and work remain an important point of reference for the university’s continued development.

Our deepest sympathies go out to his family and all those who were close to him.