Born in Wuppertal in 1931, the designer Gerd Lange attended the Werkkunstschule in Offenbach until 1956. Gerd Lange opened a design studio in Kapsweyer, Rhineland-Pfalz in 1961. In 1967 Gerd Lange designed the bestselling "SM 400" plastic chair for Drabert in Minden. Very light and stackable, the "SM 400" consists of a tubular steel frame with a polyamide seat attached. In 1973 Gerd Lange designed the "Flex 2000" chair for Thonet, which is a design first because it combines wood and plastic: the chair legs are of solid beech, the slats of veneer wood, the seat of molded polypropylene. For Bofinger in Stuttgart, Gerd Lange created a folding furniture range, consisting in a chair, table, bed, and storage furniture, in 1966. Gerd Lange has also designed several lamps; his 1969 oval sconce,"Sconce 4035", for Kartell was made of plastic.