UTEN.SILO II wall organizer | Dorothee Maurer-Becker | Design M | Munich, West Germany

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

UTEN.SILO II wall organizer | Dorothee Maurer-Becker | Design M | Munich, West Germany | 1970

Dorothee Maurer-Becker
Design M, Munich, West Germany, 1970

This is the second of three posts about the wall organizers designed by Dorothee Maurer-Becker in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These are the UTEN.SILO I and the UTEN.SILO II (this post), both by Design M in Munich, West Germany, and the Wall-All III, by Format Sales in the United States. Click for a brief biography of Dorothee Maurer-Becker.

Design M Ingo Maurer logo.

Each of the organizers has its own unique variety of containers, holders, hooks, and clips that can be used to efficiently organize a kitchen, workshop, bathroom, office, or other room. The UTEN.SILO, or “Wall-All” as they were often called in the United States, is essentially a junk drawer you hang on your wall. It is attached to the wall through holes at each of the four corners of the piece.

The UTEN.SILO II (26-3/4” height by 20-1/2” width by 2-1/2” depth) is a smaller version of the earlier UTEN.SILO I, (34-1/4” height by 26-1/2” width by 2-1/2” depth). The UTENSILO I was featured on the cover of the seminal l'Utopie du tout Plastique 1960-1973.

The first page of the United States “Wall rack for holding household articles” design patent, number 238,950, filed June 1, 1971 and granted February 24, 1976. Click the link or the image above to read the full patent.

Schematic and size comparison between the UTEN.SILO I and UTEN.SILO II.

Reverse side of the UTEN.SILO II.

The first UTEN.SILO units went on the market in December, 1969 and over the following years were an overwhelming success, particularly in Europe and on the US market. The oil crisis intervened and placed pressures on the plastics industry. Consumers interested in design began to direct their attention to wood and other natural materials. Production of UTEN.SILO I was halted in 1974. Production of UTEN.SILO II, a smaller version manufactured as of 1970, was discontinued a few years later.

Five metal hooks were then hand-mounted. There is no clip on the UTEN.SILO II.

The UTEN.SILO II is signed on the bottom front. The imprint, all on one line, reads:

A PRODUCT OF DESIGN M, MUNICH WEST-GERMANY © COPYRIGHT BY DOROTHEE - MAURER - BECKER

UTEN.SILO II Vitra reissue box. Image source: rockthathorse.com

In 2000, the Vitra Design Museum reissued the UTEN.SILO I and UTEN.SILO II in white, red, and black. A limited edition run of 1,000 UTEN.SILO II pieces was made in chrome.

Transparent from the November 27, 2006 auction presented by Quittenbaum Kunstauktionen GmbH, lot number 353. Image source: Live Auctioneers.