ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the strategies they explored and experimented with over the years in an attempt to eliminate 'moral obsolescence' and optimize product lifespans – both in use and in production. In the late 1960s the focus of discussions among German Democratic Republic (GDR) designers shifted to the prevention of 'moral obsolescence' resulting from wear-and-tear. Designers argued that in certain situations, it might be appropriate to satisfy inherently more temporary requirements with products that were also less durable – provided the production effort involved, the corresponding environmental impact and the retail price were also reduced accordingly. The ideas emerging from the realm of furniture design added a fresh perspective to the ongoing conversation among industrial designers about the problem of short product lifespans. The method to be discussed of extending product lifespans through industrial design was the 'open principle', an idea conceived and tested in the 1960s and 1970s by Karl Clauss Dietel and Lutz Rudolph.
