304 CHRISTOPHER NEUMAIER AND ANDREAS LUDWIG
distinctive, often contrasting decorating styles shaped by the changing
fashions favored by diff erent generations. Such consumer preferences
and the growing mix of eclectic styles contributed signifi cantly to the
individualization of the home.
Plastics also evolved in both German states into symbols of modern
life. A prime example of this trend in West Germany was the Panton chair,
introduced in 1967 and made of a single piece of molded plastic.^58 A par-
allel rise in the popularity of plastics also emerged in the GDR. The pet-
rochemical Kombinat Schwedt, for example, began producing tables and
chairs made of polyurethane in 1974, using an Italian design, as part of
the initiative to off er East Germans more consumer goods. In particular,
the chair produced by the Kombinat became a popular mass consumer
item, and it can still be found in a number of East German gardens. The
plastic Gartenei folding chair was another particularly poignant example
of the entwined history of the two Germanys; it was manufactured in East
Germany under license for a West German company, and it is now con-
sidered to be an Eastern design icon.^59
Figure 6.1. Left, PUR-Chair, VEB Petrolchemisches Kombinat Schwedt, 1974;
Right, Panton Chair, Design by Verner Panton, Vitra AG, 1967 (photos: Südhoff ,
Dokumentationszentrum Alltagskultur der DDR; Werkbundarchiv/Museum der
Dinge, used with permission)