International studio (36.1908/1909(1909))

BEDROOM DEStGNED BY ARCHtTECT KARL BERTSCH AND EXECUTED BY THE DEUTSCHE WERKSTATTEN FUR
HANDWERKSKUNST

ftnds utterance before all in the cabins they have
carried out for the new fast Atlantic liner " George
Washington," belonging to the North German
Lloyd of Bremen. These will be referred to and
illustrated in a separate notice. They have
aroused exceptional interest, and by many are
regarded as the of the exhibition.
Among the artists who place their talents at the
service of the Deutsche Werkstatten fiir Handwerks-
kunst, of Dresden and Munich, Richard Riemer-
schmid is most largely represented. The workmen's
cottages which he has built for the " Hellerau"
colony have been equipped by him throughout in
practical and neat fashion with aM the appliances
required by the man of humble means; and there
are two suites of machine-made furniture designed
by him for people of the A7M7y?<?M class, one of
which, a remarkably pleasant and surprisingly cheap
bedroom suite of mahogany with brass httings, calls
for special praise. Here there is absolutely none of
that shoddiness of construction and hnish which one
usually associates with the machine-made product.
Riemerschmid's best production, however, is the
large living room destined for his own country
house, at Pasing. There is something uncommonly
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comfortable and homely about this room, in which
everything goes so well together that nothing more
pleasant could be wished for. A bedroom by
Karl Bertsch is reckoned among the most attrac-
tive items in the exhibition. So convincing is it
that one hears only words of approbation, whereas
in most of the other rooms on view utterance is
given to the most contradictory opinions. The
delightful colour effect of the dark-polished birch-
wood, the pleasant window recess, lined with dull
blue tiles and provided with a toilet table, together
with the substantial yet refined shapes of the
furniture, unite to give distinction to this interior,
which may be looked up to as a model of good
design. Adalbert Niemeyer is not quite so suc-
cessful on this occasion with his music-room in
walnut with ivory inlay. No doubt, in his furniture
here he has studied to the full the comforts and
aesthetic requirements of people of luxurious tastes,
and in certain details gives proof of a rich endow-
ment of inventiveness; but in its entirety the
scheme fails to give complete satisfaction. The
built-in cabinets and chimney-piece leave gaps in
the wall-space, and wainscoting is wanted to give
completeness to the room. The same need