German designer, founder and manager of design studio Q in Wiesbaden, rediscovered life and work of Fritz Kahn. Finished studies in communication design at RheinMain University in Wiesbaden in 1991, appeared as speaker at international design conferences and is engaged in several design networks. His studio Q has received more than 70 national and international awards (such as European Design Award, Red Dot, iF Design Award, gregor international calendar award, etc.).

Dr. Fritz Kahn and his adventurous journey through the human body
Per chance, German designer Thilo von Debschitz came across an image dating from 1926: the illustrated graphic aid “Man as an industrial palace” allows viewers to look into the human body depicted as a vibrant enterprise with floors for offices and manufacturing. The author of this fascinating infographic was Dr Fritz Kahn, a once well-known writer of popular science books who had faded from view since. Accordingly, the internet did not generate any further information on Kahn. Coincidentally however, von Debschitz had been friends with Kahn’s son for over twenty years – which is not to say that they had ever discussed the father in question. As a result of that friendship, von Debschitz and his sister Uta were then in a position to delve into the family’s estate as well as international archives. Which is how they succeeded in recovering the graphic oeuvre of a man who was able to convey complex scientific issues in an understandable manner, mainly with the help of sophisticated ideas for illustrations. The monograph “Fritz Kahn” came out this June at the Bibliotheca Universalis of international publishing house TASCHEN. In Tallinn, von Debschitz will speak about selected methods used by Kahn as a means of visualizing information. In addition, he will demonstrate how Kahn’s work is inspiring creative minds the world over to this day.