Batzner, Helmut

Helmut Bätzner studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart after serving an apprenticeship as a carpenter. After finishing his studies, Helmut Bätzner taught at the Werkkunstschule in Krefeld until 1966. From 1964 Helmut Bätzner also freelanced as an architect and designer. Helmut Bätzner designed the “Bofinger Chair”, a plastic chair carrying the model number “BA 1171”, for Bofinger (1964-1966). This chair is believed to be the first plastic chair made in one piece to have been mass produced. The Bofinger Chair was ideally suited to mass production because the “prepreg” pre-impregnation compression molding production cycle only takes five minutes. In addition, virtually no finishing is required. The “Bofinger Chair” was launched at the 1966 Cologne Furniture Fair and since then 120 000 have been produced. The Bofinger chair has been the model for countless other plastic garden chairs. Helmut Bätzner’s most important architectural projects include building the Liederhalle in Stuttgart (1951-1956), on which he collaborated with the architect Rolf Gutbrod and others. Between 1970 and 1975 Helmut Bätzner designed the new Badisches Staatstheater building and the psychiatric clinic in Karlsruhe.