Fritz Frenkler, vice chairman of the iF Design Foundation, has joined the new Board of Trustees of the Dieter and Ingeborg Rams Foundation in 2023, whose mission it is to promote sustainable design and to pass this commitment on to society and future generations.
Fritz Frenkler, f/p design gmbh (Photo: Takashi Kondo)
Since 1932, the foundation of the renowned industrial designer, Dieter Rams (born 1931), and his wife Ingeborg (2022-1994) has aimed to promote and cultivate art and culture, science and research, as well as adult and vocational education, including support for students. With a board of trustees appointed in 2022, the foundation, under its Managing Director Prof. em. Dr. Klaus Klemp, is concerned with the promotion of good design. The special focus is on supporting durable and resource-saving design concepts in theory and practice that address the relationship between product design and architecture. In addition to Dieter Rams and Till Schneider, Fritz Frenkler has now been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Dieter and Ingeborg Rams Foundation.
Fritz Frenkler is co-founder of the f/p design GmbH with offices in Munich and Berlin and a subsidiary in Kyoto. After graduating in industrial design from the HBK Braunschweig, he first worked for frogdesign in Germany and the US before being entrusted with the development and management of frogdesign Asia in Tokyo. Subsequent positions included managing director of wiege Wilkhahn Entwicklungsgesellschaft, head of design at Deutsche Bahn AG and managing director of Deutsche Bahn Medien GmbH. From 1995 to 1999 he was treasurer of ICSID (now WDO) and since 1999 he has been regional advisor of the World Design Organization (WDO). In 2005, Fritz Frenkler was appointed honorary professor of industrial design at the HBK Braunschweig. In 2006, he was appointed chair of industrial design at the faculty of architecture of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where he was professor of industrial design until 2020. In October 2020, TUM awarded him the title "emeritus of excellence" in the Senior Excellence Faculty. Since 2013, Fritz Frenkler has been a member of the Architectural Arts Section of the Academy of Arts (AdK), Berlin, and in 2021, he was appointed senator of the AdK and director of the section. Fritz Frenkler has been chairman of the iF DESIGN AWARD jury since 1995. He has also been a board member of the iF Design Foundation since April 2018.
