Column | Will de l’Ecluse
On Jan. 23, 2025, beloved designer and teacher Hartmut Kowalke died in his hometown Breda. During his farewell service, colleagues, students and friends reminisced about him.
Hartmut was born on January 14, 1941 in Mettmann, Germany. He trained at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm, where he was scouted by Total Design, which brought him to the Netherlands. There he worked with Wim Crouwel and Benno Wissing. After working as a partner at several leading design firms, he was a highly respected lecturer at the Academie St. Joost Breda from 1986 until his retirement in 2000.
Will de l’Ecluse on Hartmut Kowalke
The first time I pressed Hartmut’s hand was in 1978, in a studio on the Prinsengracht, somewhere close to the Amstel River. Together with Benno Wissing, John Stegmeijer and Anne Stienstra he had a design studio there, W.K.S.S. I had worked abroad for 5 years and wanted to return to the Netherlands. Dutch Design was happening “so to speak.” Henrion (my boss in London at the time) advised me to also visit Hartmut during the week in which I visited several offices.
My second meeting with Hartmut was at the café restaurant “de gouden reaal” on the Reaal Eiland in Amsterdam. Again I shook hands with him and I remember saying to him “I believe we are going to be partners?”. Ton Haak (my then boss at Tel design in The Hague) thought it was time to start a design agency in order to get the bigger commissions. Ton knew a number of designers who he felt qualified, namely: Marcel Vroom, Hans Bockting, Anne Stienstra, Floor Kamphorst, Hartmut, myself and Ton so. These seven hardly knew each other, certainly not in working relationships, exceptions aside. We started an agency in a beautiful warehouse owned by Edo Spier at Kromboomsloot number 65 in Amsterdam. We called ourselves Concepts.
It seemed like a well-thought-out idea, but in practice it just turned out that a number of freelancers shared one large space and carried on with what they were doing, again with exceptions. To the outside world, it was apparently different.
Guus Ros of BRS told me years later, after a large article appeared in Compres, that they were shocked, a competitor for the big corporate identity projects. So that turned out to be not so bad. There was certainly a lot of hard work, and a lot of good, beautiful and special work. Many young up-and-coming talents made their first meters at Concepts. It was like a beehive of activity, the lights were always on. Sometimes there were also fierce discussions. For example, when one table was working on a campaign for Amnesty International and a few tables away on an annual report for Shell. Whether that was possible! The partners’ meetings were not always easy either. At one point I suggested we hold these meetings on the first Monday of every month at noon. If you weren’t there then you would be reminded in a loud voice.
Hartmut was not really into hard work, at least not behind his desk – one of those nice 1 by 2 m Ahrend tables. There his things were always neatly aligned, German-style / Ulm-style – that’s where Hartmut was schooled. Still the best master’s program in Germany, I read recently. Hartmut was more about talking, and so we were more about listening. Very inspiring all around.
What we all also loved was visiting the many cafes and restaurants in the Nieuwmarkt neighborhood. Hartmut told me once that it was so cozy after dinner that he stayed until the next morning, and so also for breakfast. Hartmut loved living / enjoying life.
Two brief anecdotes:
Hans Bockting told me that there was going to be an opening at Grand Palais in Paris of paintings from the Mauritshuis, a client of ours, for which Hans and I had made a catalog. In fact, the Mauritshuis was closing for a while for renovation, so paintings could go that way. Hartmut (two tables away) pricked up his ears and thought “that’s where I’m going,” but alas, not listening very well, he came to a closed door, a week early. “Can happen” he thought, put on his sunglasses, got into his rented Porsche and tore up the périphérique again. After a few hours of driving and looking around, he realized there were a lot of mountains, especially in contrast to the way there. I even thought he saw the signs Lyon.
Experiencing it is one thing, but telling about it is perhaps even more fun. He enjoyed that as much as we did, for that matter.
A second after-the-fact story where listeners’ tears rolled profusely down their cheeks was when one time he had to go to London for a meeting with a client, Thyssen Bornemisza – a big German steel giant. They had reserved a neat hotel for him, Hartmut went to enjoy himself, he turned on the tap for a lovely bath to be taken, ticked the order on the ‘through-button menu’ for breakfast, and hung it, along with the ‘do-not-disturb’ on the outside of the door. And dammit, the door slammed shut. No big deal in itself, but Sir was standing there stark naked. Fairly tall, skinny and quite white, and that on such a high-pile Bordeaux-colored carpet. Of course he panicked, he ran up and down that corridor, looking for something, a towel, any thing. There appeared to be only one way out, the elevator at the end of the corridor. The elevator doors opened and he looked straight into the eyes of the elevator boy, this somewhat older version of a boy, didn’t strain a muscle. And as in every elevator, mirrors, lots of mirrors. Hartmut was then neatly dropped off on the first floor. He reported to the front desk after which he was sent back up in a bathrobe with a key.
Hartmut was a true gentleman, often well dressed: wide pants, jacket + pouchette. He was also very thoughtful. Over 40 years ago Hartmut was the first to visit our daughter Anouk in the hospital when she was born. With a bunch of little roses.
The last time Ruth and I pressed Hartmut’s hand was here in Breda, in August 2022.
Ruth by train and I by bike from Amsterdam. Hartmut and I also cycled regularly in Waterland, on our RIH road bikes, “but mine is custom-made” he said as recently as two years ago. I had to work hard to stay in Hartmut’s wheel.
Hartmut: It was a very great pleasure for me.
A d i e u
(hat off)
Will de l’Ecluse
Dutch Graphic Roots #68 Hartmut Kowalke
In 2000 Gert Staal had a conversation with Hartmut, on the occasion of Hartmut’s farewell as teacher of Graphic Design at the Academie St. Joost in Breda. Read the entire interview at dutchgraphicroots.nl
