Ashtray by Marianne Brandt for Alessi

Marianne Brandt was a German painter, sculptor, photographer and designer who attended the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. There she became a student of Hungarian modernist theorist and designer László Moholy-Nagy in the metal workshop.

After leaving the Bauhaus, Brandt worked for Walter Adolph Georg Gropius in his Berlin studio. Brandt subsequently became the head of metal design at the Ruppelwerk firm in Gotha, where she remained until losing her job during the ongoing financial Depression in 1932.

After the Second World War, Brandt remained in Germany to help rebuild her family's home, which had been severely damaged in the bombings. She lived out her days in Germany while the Bauhaus was generally reviled as decadent during much of the German Democratic Republic. By the end of her life Brandt had a loyal group of students from her many years as a teacher of design.

Brandt's designs for household objects such as table lamps, ashtrays and teapots are considered the timeless examples of modern industrial design.

Find vintage Marianne Brandt furniture and decorative objects on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by DADA)