Ferdinand Kramer

Ferdinand Kramer was a significant German architect and designer of Functionalism. He worked primarily in Frankfurt am Main, where he contributed to the design of Neues Frankfurt in the 1920s as a collaborator of Ernst May. Condemned by the Nazis as "degenerate" and banned from working, Kramer emigrated in 1938, following his wife Beate to the United States. After the war, he returned to Frankfurt and served as the Director of Construction at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University from 1952 to 1964. During his tenure, he oversaw the creation of 23 new university buildings.

In 1925, Kramer joined the Typification Department of the Municipal Building Office in Frankfurt am Main. During this period, he primarily designed modular furniture that adapted to the reduced floor plans of modern apartments, as well as everyday objects such as lamps, sitz baths, and door handles. Guided by the principle “form follows function,” Kramer focused on interior design elements that met the spatial constraints of the early 20th century. By maintaining low production costs, he achieved a purpose-driven, timeless design.