Living Large - SandraHofmeister

text saNdra hofMEistEr
images Nils holGEr MoorMaN
Aschau, near Lake Chiemsee, is an idyllic village situated
in the Bavarian Alps, surrounded by high mountains
and green meadows, where cows graze under big
trees. In the middle of this picture-book landscape is
Nils Holger Moormann’s company headquarters, in an
old timber house. But during the weekends, this furniture
label founder doesn’t go to the office, instead he
prefers to stay at his home in Aschau, an old farmhouse
on the edge of a mountain creek, encircled by exuberantly
growing bushes. On this specific, sunny Saturday,
he has to mow the grass in his garden.
DAMn°: Cooking or gardening, which is of more interest?
Nils Holger Moormann: Actually I’m a dilettante, but
I have a lot of fun with both. I love nature above all.
My late partner was a landscape architect with green
fingers. She told me once that there are no weeds only
wild herbs. Since then I adore the garden, even if I never
honestly got deeper into it. I like to let things grow
in their own wild way.
DAMn°: You work as a designer, an entrepreneur and
a gardener. It’s difficult to give you a correct title.
NHM: Maybe I am an ‘occasionist’, or a universal crazy
nut. I have a bit from every profession, as if two movies
were playing in my head. One is covering the creative
side that I am living from and that makes me happy.
The other is more rational and calculated. Both movies
are in good contact with each other. You know, I’m a
contradictory person. That’s my secret.
DAMn°: As an autodidact, how did you roll into design?
NHM: Through a lot of insane detours, I discovered design
as a personal passion. I fell into the realm of design
in the 80s, when I was 28 years old. It was a perfect moment:
nobody knew about design, the word itself was
exotic and unconsumed at that time. I was fascinated
by the connection between the aesthetics of things and
their long decay time. Coming from a fashion dynasty, I
had always been interested in beauty, proportions and
colours. With design, however, this was different. Thus,
an intellectual world opened for me.
DAMn°: Your furniture seems to ignore the debate on
functionality that was crucial in Germany. What is
your attitude towards this?
NHM: I think I am a typical German, in a way. By following
the path of the Ulm School of Design, in any
DAMn° magazine # 29 / Nils holGEr MoorMaNN
Living Large
Nils Holger Moorman’s Alpine universe
according to Nils holger Moorman, consequence, attitude, and transparency are the
necessary qualities for a successful life. as well as his easy-going nature and desire
to forge ahead, he possesses a curious combination of wit, practicality and a love of
gardening. a reflection of its founder, these basic ingredients have come together to
create a furniture label with a rather effective non-conventional approach. Near the
company headquarters, in the luscious mountainous landscape of the alps, every
facility needed for production is accessible. in this ultimate setting, Moorman also
beautifully manages to separate his work paradise from his home paradise.
Painting from simon dittrich
showing Moormann’s philosophy:
‘on one point i am bull-headed:
flexibility’ (above)
Facing page:
ready for take-off: Nils
holger Moormann wearing his
motorcycle helmet while sitting in
the ‘Bookinist’ chair, 2007
32 33

DAMn° magazine # 29 / Nils holGEr MoorMaNN
From left to right:
Explaining the use of things, Nils
holger Moormann plays with
furnishings and identities
the captain’s darling ‘Es’ (1999)
designed by Konstantin Grcic
soccer kick à la Moormann: inside
the photo studio in the office attic,
the fNP shelving by axel Kufus
becomes the goal
caesar’s triumph atop of the
‘sparondo’ table (2003) designed
by Jakob Gebert
case, you cannot fail. But in my eyes, there is an important
aspect to add. A collection must not be too correct.
A bit of a wink and some humour is necessary, even to
treat materials in a strong and sincere way. I’m happy
that our furniture is not too perfect and rigid. In the
end, things still have to be alive.
DAMn°: Most of your furniture is fabricated in plywood
or MDF. Can you tell us about your experiences
with this material?
NHM: We do not have our own fabrication facilities.
We produce everything within a radius of 30 kilometres
from our office in Aschau. I don’t like keywords like sustainability
or ecology, but in my opinion there is no sense
in sending things across the world, back and forth, to
distribute them. My dream has always been an extended
workbench, where you could realise projects together
with craftsmen. By using plywood and MDF, we are very
much concerned with the question of surfaces. Personally,
I don’t like it when surfaces are completely closed
and don’t give an idea of their substrate. Over the years,
working with plywood planks thousands of times and
more, we have discovered their spirit.
DAMn°: There are several pieces like the Bookinist that
you developed on your own. Do you see yourself as a
designer?
NHM: I’m not a designer, even if I play with things and
think about all sorts of nonsense. The Bookinist is an
example of that attitude. I built it for myself because
I needed a seat for reading and wanted an alternative
to those uncomfortable upholstered armchairs. For the
Milan furniture fair we were looking for something on
which people could sit down at the stand, so we spontaneously
decided to build two more Bookinists. Suddenly
we received many requests for this chair, which
had not been planned for production. I am not proud
of my design, personally. I consider it rather childish.
My part is more the one of consultant, who has experiences
with different ingredients and might know how
things can work.
DAMn°: Until recently there was not a chair in your
collection, but now there are two of them. Where does
this change come from?
NHM: It is not the product itself that I was keen to develop.
Chairs are the most difficult things to produce,
because they have to bear this cruel, static, incorrect
way of sitting, on the one hand –when your boyfriend
sits on your knees, for example… And on the other
hand, there is a very constrained market for chairs. In
fact there are billions of them, but in the end it’s always
the same ones that are sold. I wanted to avoid the production
of chairs, actually.
Anyway, I fell in love with the Pressed Chair and the
Zipfred. They are so radical and responsible that I had
to smirk first and then I had to bow in respect of their
concepts. I knew that the Zipfred was not really a serious
project. But I found it very important to convey
the concept behind this. The Pressed Chair, however,
corresponds exactly to my philosophy, making the
best possible out of the least possible. Reducing until
the very end –that’s for me a classical invention. If we
really can produce the chair, as planned, that will be
wonderful.
Presentation of 11 novelties at the Moormann stand, salone del Mobile 2011
– some of them were hidden and given promising titles as a joke (left)
invitation to the salone 2011: Nils holger Moormann thought it would be a
grandiose idea to visit the exhibition without a new wardrobe (above)
12. – 17. aprile 2011
Salone Internazionale Wardrobe del looking Mobilefor
a wall to lean-on, for mutual hanging around: lodelei
Padiglione 20
wardrobe, designed by Martin Pärn and Edina dufala Pärn, 2011 (bottom, left)
Posto F18
Nuova Fiera Rho Pero
5 bars and one tabletop: Minimato, designed by Matthias ferwagner, 2011
(bottom, middle)
Pure function, outside and inside: Pressed chair, designed by harry thaler,
2011, is made from a single sheet of metal, stabilised by its form and
circumferential depression (bottom, right)
34 35

DAMn° magazine # 29 / Nils holGEr MoorMaNN
Clockwise:
Gespanntes regal (1984) by Wolfgang laubersheimer. the
characteristic steel cable is not a decoration, but provides the
necessary tension and stability for the shelf to remain upright
hut ab (hats-off) (1998) by Konstantin Grcic is a wardrobe that
can be folded together, stored in a minimum amount of space,
and suspended in a number of ways
insert coin (2010) by Neuland can be individually configured
in many different ways. the trays can be inserted into the wall
panel in any order
Gardening with the Kant desk (2002) designed by Patrick frey
and Markus Boge
Facing page, from left to right, top to bottom:
abgemahnt (2007) is a side table designed by Nils holger
Moormann. it can be moved easily using the hoop that divides
the tabletop asymmetrically and serves as a handle
the 50 family (2009) by thomás alonso consists of trestles
of different heights. With their third leg to stand on, these
untreated oak supports can be used as high and low stools –
or to support a tabletop
Else (2010) by Urban schnieber is a shelf made of birch
plywood with no need for screws, brackets or props. the
drawer height can be individually selected and the side panels
lean to either side – creating new forms time and again
Easy reader (2009) by Nils holger Moormann is a piece of furniture
for those who love reading. there is a small seat on which to relax
and space for books, plus it can be positioned wherever desired
Egon (2010) by franz Volhard has no screws. the ash wood frame
requires no connecting elements and can be easily assembled
der keline lehner (2003) by Jörg Gätjens: this standing desk
can be leant against almost any wall or shelving, and provides
a surface for books. arranged with a third leg, it becomes
a freestanding furniture element
zipferd (2010) was designed by Viktor Matic, a product design
student at Bozen-Bolzano. the chair consists of 6 wooden
elements and 20 layers of cardboard, held together only by
connecting cable ties. Each piece has its very own character
dresscode (2004) by Jörg Boner is a room divider and a cabinet,
built within minutes. it is lightweight and of minimal packaging
size. the side panels are fixed in place by a frame in ash wood
Yak (2010) by rupert Kopp: a wardrobe made of ash wood
and steel
36 37

DAMn° magazine # 29 / Nils holGEr MoorMaNN
Top, from left to right:
the headquarters in aschau
near chiemsee, is situated in a
traditional house – the former
‘festival hall’ of the village
the hall of fame shows all design
prizes in an overhead loop
the idyllic Bavarian company
façade and, behind it, the
postmaster’s office on the first
floor of Moormann’s headquarters,
made of ‘Postmeister’ fNP
shelving
Unusual logistics: The furniture is
manufactured by the producers of
local crafts – and transported to the
nearby logistics centre by tractor
DAMn°: You have a very clear philosophy for leading
a company. What is it exactly?
NHM: There are three important aspects: consequence,
attitude, and transparency. If you follow
these aims in your life, you will not fail. Many people
misunderstand the making of furniture, they want to
make money instead. But in this constellation there is
something important missing: to make people happy.
The crème fraiche design became an attitude within
the design world. Do you know what this is? Someone
who does not know how to cook takes crème fraiche
for everything, and it works somehow, even if it disguises
the original taste. The same effect exists in the
design world. With ingredients like crème fraiche, a
company can work in some way. But the goal is to
understand things, to approach them until they begin
to light-up from the inside out.
DAMn°: How do you develop ideas – from your own
needs?
NHM: Strangely enough, there are periods where I have
many ideas. When I have to go for long business trips,
my colleagues sometimes stick a post-it note in the car,
wishing me a good trip with no jams at all. That’s because
I begin to sketch when I am stuck in a jam, and to think
about new projects. I don’t know how to sketch, and my
problem is to find a way to make my ideas clear to others.
DAMn°: About aspects of money – it almost seems
like money has no role at all for you?
We all think too much about money. Of course it is important
for a company. But if you evaluate everything
only from the financial point of view, you will destroy a
lot. Dreams are so vulnerable! You have to admit them,
follow them, even if you might fail. To achieve this freedom,
we operate strictly economically in other domains.
In Milan during the Salone, for example, our whole team
stays not in a hotel but at a campsite a bit outside the city.
Thus we save some thousands of euros that we can then
spend on making another fancy catalogue.
DAMn°: This year at your stand in Milan, you presented
11 novelties, all covered with white fabric and
announcements about the upcoming years. What’s
behind this joke?
NHM: That was great, wasn’t it? We showed a light called
La Funsel from Giacomo Illuminati, scheduled for 2018.
‘The burner’ was the fire extinguisher, obligatory for every
stand – we put it on a platform, like a sculpture. I want to
have fun during a fair. There is nothing more boring than
furniture, furniture and furniture again. I want to be inspired
instead, I want to see people, make contact with interesting
ideas. The rest is hard work and serious business.
But that comes all by itself. Life is brutal enough for that. #
www.moormann.de
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