Unikate, the roots of Pentagon

Before founding Pentagon Gruppe in 1985, several members were already gathered under the name Unikate. Wolfgang Laubersheimer, Reinhard Müller, and Ralph Sommer founded this collective in 1982. Gerd Arens joined them the same year, while Meyer Voggenreiter only joined the following year as an external collaborator in graphic design.

The goal of Unikate was to experiment with plexiglass and neon. Their ambition was to be “rich, not just famous, but also rich.” Production was limited to very small runs — if not unique pieces — and the prices were particularly steep.

At the time, plexiglass sheets were very expensive. Wolfgang Laubersheimer decided to replace them with polycarbonate sheets, which became the group’s core material. By hiring a specialist in Cologne, he developed a technique for assembling these sheets.
Polycarbonate was used not only for furniture collections but also as wall panels for various shops that featured “ribbed aluminum floors and plexiglass shelves covered in colored paper.”

Soon, many clients began complaining about the fragility of polycarbonate. This issue gradually led to a disinterest in the material and pushed Laubersheimer to favor metal, more aligned with his original training.
The designer’s first major work was Verspanntes Regal (1984), a shelf that looked straight but was distorted by a tensioned wire.

Although Unikate originally belonged only to Wolfgang Laubersheimer and Ralph Sommer, there was soon an intent to bring Meyer Voggenreiter, Reinhard Müller, and Gerd Arens into the fold by the mid-80s.
Pentagon Gruppe was thus born from this association, with the goal of developing design projects while also running a gallery.
From this came many emblematic projects such as the Café Casino (1987) for Documenta 8 in Kassel, and pieces like Neonstehleuchte (1987) and Bibliothek (1988).