New festival “Into Design” in Frankfurt and Offenbach: This is what the 069 aesthetic looks like | hessenschau.de
069 – that’s the area code for the cities of Frankfurt and Offenbach. in between, however, there is a design direction that shapes the image of the two cities. The new festival “Into Design” will draw attention to this.
An area code as a statement: The 069 is immortalized on the “business socks” by Offenbach designer Maziar Rastegar – in a very special font. It is straightforward and at the same time ornate. Rastegar Hut combines the classic Gothic script and Arabic elements with one another for his font “Offenbach Neue”.
For the Frankfurt graphic designer Felix Kosok, this font expresses what he calls 069 aesthetics: design from Frankfurt and Offenbach. Both are places where different cultures and nationalities live next door to each other.
Cultures as a source of inspiration
These cultures and nationalities are not opposites, but a source of inspiration. “All of these strong contrasts that come together work together without canceling each other out,” says Felix Kosok. “They then result in a certain aesthetic, a certain feeling for a city.” And this would like to make a new festival better known, in which Kosok is also involved – “Into Draft” (December 11th and 12th, 2021) it says.
New festival
“Into Design” festival for aesthetic city life, 11.-12. December, Frankfurt and Offenbach, guided tours through Frankfurt’s Ostend or the station district are offered, among other things. In Offenbach there is a tour of the city center program. Visits to studios or workshops are also planned.
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It should be clear: In order to stand out and make a name for themselves, when and when the designers come up with something special, says Kosok. The graphic designer is a real Frankfurt boy and studied in Offenbach at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG).
Example: vegan footwear
An example of typical 069 aesthetics for him are the shoes of the Frankfurt label Ekin, which are sustainably produced in Portugal from recycled plastic bottles, among other things. The collection is diverse and includes numerous vegan models.
There are sleek sneakers with wedge-shaped soles, boots that are reminiscent of rough hiking boots, or minimalist, almost seamless white loafers – mostly comfortable urban style. On the website you can now read: “Delivery delays due to high demand” – even though the label is not cheap.
Famous furniture from Frankfurt
The 069 aesthetic, says the designer Kosok, is an upscale type of aesthetic, with great attention to detail. This also distinguishes the furniture designer Sebastian Herkner, who is now known throughout Germany. He also studied at the HfG and still has his studio in Offenbach. For Felix Kosok, Herkner’s designs also have something pleasantly playful about them, unlike the minimalist Berlin aesthetic, which relies heavily on black and concrete.
Felix Kosok: “In Frankfurt you can also play with color from time to time. Can it be a little fancier?” The “Bell Table”, with which Herkner became famous in 2012, is a brass table that is supported by a foot made of hand-blown glass. Unfortunately not necessarily affordable for everyone.
A hotel as a place to feel good
The Lindley Hotel in Frankfurt’s Ostend conveys a feeling for the latest architectural 069 aesthetics. In addition to the Ekin store and other stations, it is a stop on Felix Kosok’s design expedition through Ostend at “Into Design”. In the “Guten Stube”, one of the numerous, differently designed multifunctional rooms, there are several velvet sofas and mid-century furniture in dark wood, plus a cult turntable by the Hessian designer Dieter Rams for Braun from the 1950s – and lots of records.
The Lindley is more than a hotel – it is also a house community, a place for artists and creatives like Felix Kosok, who works here when the ceiling regularly falls on his head in his home office. “I think this hybrid mix,” he says. “Things can also be used differently than someone has thought of this – that is also something that distinguishes Frankfurt and Offenbach: an openness.”
After a design walk with Felix Kosok, one thing is clear: 069 aesthetics are far more than the Frankfurt skyline, the station district or a song by the rapper Haftbefehl.
Design from Frankfurt and Rhine-Main
Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main area have long played an important role worldwide when it comes to design: the “New Frankfurt” estates designed by the architect and building department head Ernst May from 1925 onwards have made design history, as has the original model of the built-in kitchen by Grete Schütte -Lihotzky.
After the war, for example, the linear design of Kronberger Braun AG, whose product design Dieter Rams took over in 1955, became world-famous. And later on, successful design offices continued to emerge in the Rhine-Main area, often founded by graduates of the HfG in Offenbach or the universities of applied sciences in Mainz, Wiesbaden and Darmstadt.
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