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L illy Reich, who was born on June 16, 1885 in Berlin, had no formal education as an
architect, but rather underwent broad-based training with a focus on textile techni-
ques, fashion, and interior design, as was typical around 1900 of many young women wis-
hing to work independently as artists. As one of the very few of these “artisans” – which
is how Deutscher Werkbund still referred to them in 1928 – she succeeded after World
War I in continuing her career in the Weimar Republic. Working creatively with architect
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the years between 1927 and 1931 saw her produce her finest
works. The only building she designed on her own was a show house in the enormous
exhibition hall at the 1931 German Building Exhibition in Berlin. With the benefit of hind-
sight, her qualities lay in design in general, and specifically interior and exhibition design
. Nowadays we can also refer to her as a curator. These areas of work became genuine
tasks for modern architects of the day, whose innovations are still stimulating us today. Aus: Nachrichten der Deutschen Linoleum-Werke AG, Juli 1929
Inasmuch we can also list Lilly Reich as one such architect. Despite her recognized suc-
cess, after 1945 her work quickly fell into oblivion. Her renaissance began in 1977 in the
USA with Ludwig Glaeser’s publication about Mies’ furniture and in Germany, beginning
with Sonja Günther’s first monograph in 1988, has continued until today. In 1996, the
Museum of Modern Art in New York, which manages her estate, organized the first, and
to date only exhibition of her oeuvre. Lilly Reich never compiled a resume herself. Reich und Mies van der Rohe 1929: Deutsche Linoleumwerke – Leipziger Frühjahrsmesse und Deutsche Seide ...
According to her family, having gained her high school leaving certificate she completed
... Weltausstellung Barcelona • DLW exhibition - Leipzig Spring Fair and Germin Silk – World Exhibition Barcelona
an apprenticeship as a machine embroiderer and in 1908 worked in the studio of Josef
Hoffmann at the Wiener Werkstätte. The first mention of her in Bauwelt in 1911, however,
refers to her as “a pupil of Else Oppler-Legband”. And indeed, the areas in which Lilly
Reich and the designer, who is scarcely known today, were active were fairly congruent.
Reich’s first verifiable professional success came as part of the “female spaces” segrega-
ted for women, which served to regulate competition and laid down for working female
artists specifically female characteristics in terms of a social gender.

The productive Couple – Lilly Reich and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

In 1924-25, she first met with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, for whom she tried, to no avail,
to pave the way for him to become Head of The dept. of Municipal Planning in Frankfurt.
During the planning stage for his contract for Haus Wolf in Guben (1925-27) the two wor-
ked together for the first time, on the fittings, though as opposed to the ensuing contracts, Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, 1927
this only became known posthumously. The Guben project was at the beginning of the
most important stage in her life. At this time the discreet private couple also became a
productive couple: “A couple, in turn, is unimaginable without a third party. This third
party is a flexible entity. It takes lots of shapes, for example in art,” according to the art
historian Renate Berger. At the Weissenhof exhibition in 1927, of which Mies van der Rohe Die Autorin des Beitrages Prof. Dr. Magdalena Droste lehrt seit 1997 Kunstgeschichte an
was the artistic director, their collaboration became evident. The first modern interior she der BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. Nach dem Studium an der RWTH Aachen und der Phillips-
published was the ground-floor apartment in the block by Mies van der Rohe. In the cata- Universität Marburg promovierte sie 1977. Ab 1980 war sie als Wissen schaftliche
log, each of them was individually listed as the author, however a third entity had emer- Mitarbeiterin am Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Museum für Gestaltung tätig. 1991–1997 als stell-
ged, which can be described as the interior design of the rooms designed by can der vertretende Direktorin. Sie ist Autorin und Herausgeberin zahlreicher Publikationen zum
Rohe, and was defined by exchange and cooperation. Reich was also responsible for fit- Bauhaus und zur Geschichte des Designs im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert.
ting out the apartments for which Mies was stated as the author. She chose the individual
fittings – luminaires, upholstered chairs, the Rockhausen swivel chair and curtains that
are often identical in both apartments. Reich designed furniture for her apartment and Mit freundlicher Genehmigung der Herausgeber und des Ernst Wasmuth Verlages
Mies designed a first series of fittings: the Weissenhof chair with and without armrests, wurden der gekürzte Textbeitrag und die Abbildungen entnommen aus:
the circular glass table and tea tables made of wood, dining tables and bookcases. Some
of this furniture also stood in Reich’s apartment. In 1931, Reich designed her first show
house for the Bauausstellung, which was connected by a wall to that built by Mies. She Frau Architekt
was working under how own name again and fitted out a single-storey house and two
boarding apartments. After 1933 working conditions worsened, but there is proof of jobs Seit mehr als 100 Jahren:
handling conversion work, interior projects, and exhibition structures. In 1937, van der Frauen im Architekturberuf
Rohe received a first invitation to the US, before a second followed in 1938, which he used
to emigrate. In 1939 visited him in the USA, but returned to Germany. In long letters she
wrote to Mies about life in Germany and managing matters relating to the patents for his Frau Architekt
and her tubular steel furniture. During the war she was called up for service. In 1944, she Herausgeber: Mary Pepchinski, Christina Budde, Wolfgang
saw to it that Mies’ artistic legacy was moved to Mühlhausen in Thuringia, thus saving it. Voigt, Peter Cachola Schmal – Deutsches Architekturmuseum,
Large parts of her artistic oeuvre were burned in air raids or were lost. After 1945, Reich Frankfurt/Main. Erschienen 2017 im Ernst Wasmuth Verlag,
campaigned for the Werkbund, which had been dissolved by the Nazis, to be re-founded, Tübingen, Berlin. Deutsch/Englisch. 113 Seiten. Hardcover.
and supported an interest group, “Innenausbau”. She landed a conversion contract in Format: 24,5 x 30,5 cm. 48 Euro
war-ravaged post-1945 Berlin, and a teaching contract at the University of the Arts. Reich ISBN 978 3 8030 0829 9 (Buchhandelsausgabe)
died of cancer on December 11, 1947. ISBN 978 3 8030 0828 2 (Museumsausgabe)

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