An institution-builder
Inge Aicher-Scholl was a German writer and educator. She founded and directed the Ulm Adult Education Center and co-founded the Ulm School of Design with Otl Aicher and Max Bill in 1953. Her place in design history is closely connected with creating institutions for education.
Education after the war
She was the elder sister of Hans and Sophie Scholl, members of the White Rose resistance movement who were executed by the Nazi regime. After the war she wrote about the movement, publishing Die Weiße Rose in 1952. She also participated in the peace movement.
Why her role matters
Study her role alongside the school’s teaching and design output. That wider view makes the work of establishing and sustaining an institution visible beside the objects associated with it. It also offers a concrete reason to include a writer and educator in a design history: the conditions for learning and collaboration are part of that history.