“I was immediately drawn to him”

Do you remember your impressions when meeting him for the first time?

He was an individual of great integrity, he had a mischievous sense of humor, he had the ability to use a pen or a pencil and immediately, with great economy of line, summarize an object, an individual, he had an extraordinary graphic skill and a very keen eye.

Did you like him right away?

Absolutely! I was immediately drawn to him. I mean it was one of those spontaneous, almost infectious relationships.

You travelled to Rotis several times. What comes to mind when you think about Rotis?

I think about very harmonious relationship between a period house, a historic house which is very typical of the region, and then these new buildings which displayed Otl’s skill as an architect. He never professed to be an architect, he never pretended to be an architect but in his actions as a designer he was a true architect. The buildings were very elegant, almost like a manifestation of his personality, they had an honesty, a directness, an economy, an elegance. They were part of a creative environment that Otl created around him. There was a sense of celebration about Otl. When the first snow fell in winter, there would be a spontaneous celebration, he enjoyed the festivity of the rituals, of savouring a good wine, a simple, honest, high quality food. There was an elegance about everything, the daily acts of life, he elevated them to give them a kind of nobility.

As you have already mentioned, your relationship was intense and you were close friends and also professional collaborators – what was it what you could learn from each other?

When I travelled to Leutkirch with a colleague, I always said we would leave wiser after the visit. I always learned something from Otl, even if it was how to peel an onion. It’s difficult to describe, it was an intellectually and visually creative relationship.

And what could he have learned from you?

That I couldn’t say. That would be presumptive on my part.

But he never referred to anything that he found enriching in the conversations with you?

I think that perhaps his visualizations of some of the structures in our projects indicated that he had a respect, as a designer, for the way in which I would reveal the structure of the building and the integrity of that structure by expressing it. And perhaps again the word integrity, whether in the way Otl would communicate the values of an object or an enterprise and give it visual identity. So perhaps there is a common thread that weaves through that.

Do you think the collaboration with him and the insights you gained, did that influence your work as an architect?

I think that we are all privileged to meet individuals who in different ways become our mentors. From my experience, I can say that sometimes these mentors can also become friends and soulmates. And so Otl was a mentor and a friend. And I would learn from him the integrity of type, of the way in which he might order a typeface and perhaps a visual hierarchy, the way in which a drawing could be much more powerful than a photograph, because the drawing or the sketch would be a distillation.

Is it true that Otl did not speak English very well?

Otl communicated. He didn’t need to speak English very well, he spoke it more than adequately, but he is one these rare individuals who didn’t need language to communicate.

How should one imagine your meetings?

We would communicate with words and imagery. That is very difficult to describe. Much could remain unspoken because, I would like to assume, we shared many values.

When you developed projects together you had intensive periods of work. I Imagine there were a lot of discussions and also controversy. How did you settle open questions?

It is difficult to give a precise reply. There was a rapport, and sometimes this rapport was unspoken, sometimes it was spoken. Sometimes it was the exchange of a sketch, sometimes it was moving images around on a wall. It would take many different forms. It was a creative dialogue.

Did this dialogue involve more people, from your office or from Otl’s team?

From time to time, Otl would bring people from his team from time to time and I would bring people from mine, but I would say the relationship was more personal. Of course we were both dependent on teams, that is absolutely true. And I think that we both believed in team work and in encouraging creative talent in the people around us.

Did Otl Aicher prefer to work with architects rather than fellow designers?

I can’t comment on that. I think that Otl Aicher was drawn to talented individuals regardless of their profession or background – individuals that were like-minded and shared his values. It could be philosophical values, it could be visual values. As an important intellectual of his time, he enjoyed the stimulation of collaboration and a kind of cross-fertilization of different skills.