The project magdas DESIGN, founded by magdas Social Business of the Vienna Archdiocese’s division of the Caritas charity, invited various Austrian designers to conceive products for their first collection. One of these designers was Thomas Feichtner. The products contributed by Feichtner to this project are candlesticks made of poured concrete that can be turned or taken apart to function both with tealights and with long candles. These candlesticks are produced at the Caritas Workshops of Vienna, Lower Austria, and Carinthia by long-term unemployed individuals as well as by women and men with handicaps or in difficult life situations. Part of the reason why Feichtner went beyond the product itself to also design its entire production process, here, was a desire to involve as many handicapped individuals as possible. A central challenge was to create casting tools with good handling qualities, in order to ease pouring and demolding of the candlesticks.
To accomplish this, Thomas Feichtner teamed up with the professional modeler Harry Schmidt to develop the final molds for mass-production. Alongside Morawa, Wein & Co., the MAK Design Shop, and magdas HOTEL, the magdas DESIGN Collection is also distributed by Grüne Erde. For over 30 years, Grüne Erde has been dedicated to the ecologically and socially responsible production of timelessly designed furniture and accessories.
