Walter Gropius was born in Berlin in 1883 and died in Boston in 1969. He was co-founder of the Deutscher Werkbund and the spiritual father and director of the legendary Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau.

It could be said that Walter Gropius played a more important part in shaping 20th-century design than any other individual. His work marked the beginning of a new era in architecture and design. Gropius was awarded 30 honorary doctorates and was made an honorary member of countless universities and colleges, institutes and organisations.
His last, outstanding industrial buildings are the Rosenthal am Rothbühl porcelain factory in Selb (1965–1967) and the glassworks in Amberg (1967–1969). In his own words: “The Bauhaus is not an idea that sprang out of the head of a single individual, but an idea that sprang from a need.”