Burkhard Schmitz

Burkhard Schmitz, born in 1957, studied design at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin He was a pupil of Nick Roericht’s, and after obtaining his diploma he worked at ProduktEntwicklung Roericht (PER), Ulm. In 1992 he founded the “7.5 Project Group” together with Franz Biggel. A lectureship at the Fachhochschule Schwäbisch-Gmünd in the Design Faculty was followed by appointment as Professor for designing interactive systems at the Universität der Künste, Berlin (Berlin University of the Arts) in 1993 where he has been Vice President since 2006. For Wilkhahn, Schmitz developed several ranges, including the Kendo range, that is marked by a combination of a solid wood frame and a perforated polypropylene back shell (1988). One groundbreaking development was the Picto office chair range which he developed in collaboration with Franz Biggel, a chair that was designed in accordance with new, ecologically oriented design principles (1992).