Our designers
Nils Holger Moormann, 2021
Neuland | Paster & Geldmacher
Eva Paster and Michael Geldmacher met each other while studying design at the academy in Munich and in 1997 founded an office together under the name Neuland Industriedesign.
Their design claim is primarily socio-cultural observation: Products are always an expression of the attitude towards life. A social change of values demands new formulations of products. Generally this type of conversion refers both to functions, as well as the search for a contemporary aesthetical expression. Both of them lecture at the academy in Munich.
Nils Holger Moormann
Die Welt am Sonntag claims: Nils Holger Moormann is like his furniture; his furniture is like him – intelligent, ascetic, funny and clever. As an autodidact, career changer and free spirit, Nils Holger Moormann has been developing furniture with reduced formal language and precise solutions to detail with his design team since 1982. The key thoughts are simplicity, intelligence and innovation and these colour the company’s entire philosophy. Nils Holger Moormann imparts his great passion for good design in numerous juries, as a coach for up-and-coming designers and in 2018/19 in a position as project lecturer for one year at Kassel College of art.
Christoffer Martens
Christoffer Martens was born in Bremen in 1975. He trained and worked as a graphic designer before studying product design in Potsdam. In 2008 he moved to Switzerland, where he worked for Alfredo Häberli, one year later he set up his own studio in Berlin. Christoffer Martens designs and develops products for the furniture, lighting and home accessory sectors. He has been giving courses and workshops in cooperation with the Werkbundarchiv since 2012 at the „Museum der Dinge“. He is also co-initiator of the gallery “erstererster”, which has been initiating design lecture programmes and exhibitions since.
Wolfgang Laubersheimer
Wolfgang Laubersheimer initially completed an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk and then studied metal sculpture in Cologne. In 1982, together with other designers and artists, he founded the production company Unikate and in 1985 the design group Pentagon. Alone or as a member of the group Pentagon he participated in countless exhibitions such as „Wohnen von Sinnen“, „documenta 8“ or „Bienale Sao Paolo“. He cooperated with companies such as Swatch, Mercedes-Benz and Tiffany and managed guest projects at the Polytechnic in Hong Kong and at UCLA in Los Angeles. In 1992 he became a Professor of production technology at the Cologne International School of Design.
Konstantin Grcic
Konstantin Grcic was initially trained as a cabinetmaker at John Makepeace School in Dorset, England, before studying Design at the Royal College of Art in London. He set up his own office in Munich in 1991 and since then has been active in several fields ranging from industrial design and exhibition design through to architecture. Konstantin Grcics‘ work is characterized by a passionate confrontation with art, design and architectural history. A number of his products have been awarded internationally renowned design prizes and form part of the permanent collections in most notable design museums. Today Konstantin Grcic lives in Berlin.
Jakob Gebert
Jakob Gebert studied interior design with product and construction design at the University of Design in Basel and in 1994 founded his own office for industrial and exhibition design in Weil am Rhein. He has been teaching at various universities since 1998; also in Jerusalem. In 2004 he moved to Lörrach with his family and commuted from there to Kassel, where he holds a professorship at the Art Academy.
Patrick Frey, Markus Boge
In 2004, following their studies, Patrick Frey and Markus Boge founded Boge the design-studio Frey + Boge Industrial Design, which developed the Kant table for Nils Holger Moormann. In 2007 they parted ways. Since then Patrick Frey has worked as an independent designer and in his first year working independently received the highest award for up-and-coming designers, the Lucky Strike Junior Designer Award. More international awards were to follow such as the IF Product Design Award or the Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum.
Susanne Wartzeck, Jörg Sturm
In 1995 Susanne Wartzeck and Jörg Sturm founded their architecture office based in Dipperz/Hessen. After excursions into experimental housing construction and award winning timber construction projects, the ten employees in the office currently work at all levels of architecture, including general planning. Contact to Nils Holger Moormann and the subsequent production of the Taurus trestle table began during their university studies.
Franz Volhard
Franz Volhard studied architecture at the Technical University Darmstadt then turned to free music, jazz, film and photography. In 1983, after returning to town planning and architecture, he founded his architectural office Schauer + Volhard in Darmstadt. Franz Volhard received various architecture awards for his projects. Prompting international teaching and publications on the subject of Building with Wood and Clay. The architectural work is repeatedly accompanied by design of furniture and everyday objects – so far mainly as individual items.
Harry Thaler
Harry Thaler reinterprets fundamental design typologies by combining traditional craftsmanship with innovative forms. He graduated from the Royal College of Art where he also developed the Pressed Chair, which then went into production at Nils Holger Moormann. His work has been exhibited internationally and he has received numerous awards including the Monocle Global Retail Award, the Interior Innovation Award and the Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum. Harry Thaler lives in Meran and commutes between his home town and London. Harry Thaler has been a lecturer at the Faculty of Design and Art at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano since 2016.
Martin Pärn, Edina Dufala-Pärn
Martin Pärn and Edina Dufala-Pärn are an Estonian-Hungarian designer couple based in Tallinn. They studied Industrial Design and Interior architecture respectively in Helsinki. Joining their different skills and approaches, they successfully develop furniture through to small scale architecture. Since 2010 they have been running their ISEASI design office with two other fellow partners, offering multidisciplinary design and consultation to companies. Besides designing, Martin is a professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts.
Hauke Murken
While studying at the HDK Berlin, Hauke Murken designed the Last Minute table for Nils Holger Moormann. He has been designing products for diverse areas of use in cooperation with the designer Sven Hansen since 1999. The duo is not just practically active, they lecture at the University of Arts in Berlin, Burg Giebichenstein in Halle, Dessau University and at the Bauhaus University in Weimar to name but a few. Hauke Murken‘s design aim is to make things better. Clarity, simplicity, intelligence, usability, top quality and simple beauty. So the products remain up to date for many years.
Konrad Lohöfener
Konrad Lohöfener is an industrial designer based in Munich, where he is passionate about discovering the essence of what is essential. The main focus of his work is furniture and product design, as well as interior architecture and product development. After finishing his studies in 2010 at Burg Giebichenstein, University of Arts and Design Halle and at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, Konrad Lohöfener worked for five years at Nils Holger Moormann. In 2015 he designed and developed as part of Ingo Maurer’s design team and works as an independent designer for international furniture manufacturers.
Cecilie Manz
Before Cecilie Manz opened her own studio in Copenhagen in 1998 she graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and then studied at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki. Cecilie Manz has now been an active, independent designer for almost twenty years, designing not only a wide range of product designs – including furniture as well as luminaires and pieces made of glass – but also more experimental prototypes and unique sculptural pieces. Cecilie Manz sees her work as a major, continuous process: individual works are often interlinked.
Axel Kufus
After completing his secondary education and training as a carpenter, Axel Kufus initially cooperated with the sculptors Richard Mühlemeier and Ulrike Holthöfer. Alongside his own free work, he attended Holzfachschule Bad Wildungen and HdK Berlin. He focused on serial production processes for basic furniture in a more experimental prototype workshop, which was received as an example of the new simplicity in international collections. At the end of the 80s he founded Werkstudio Berlin. In 1993 he accepted a professorship at the Bauhaus University in Weimar and in 2004 at the Berlin University of the Arts UdK in the Institute of Product and Process Design. Axel Kufus is on the panel of international juries, on the artistic advisory board of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations and on the scientific advisory board of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. In his capacity as advisor for the committees, he provides council to the Bauhaus University in Weimar and the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano in issues relating to Higher Education Development.
Arne Jäkel, Franz Peipp
After training as carpenters, Arne Jäkel and Franz Peipp met while studying furniture and product design.
They have been realising design projects together since 2021 and founded their own studio in 2023. Their long-standing friendship and joint studies characterise their work in the field of furniture and product design.
Daniel Kern
Daniel Kern studied Visual Communication and Industrial Design at Hamburg University of Fine Arts (HFBK). In 2008/09 he worked as Assistant Curator at Vitra Design Museum, responsible for the exhibition “Antibodies. Works by Fernando & Humberto Campana 1989 – 2009”. After successfully graduating he designed exhibitions, for example for Domaine de Boisbuchet, before joining the design team at Nils Holger Moormann. Since 2016, Daniel Kern has been working as an independent product designer.
Jörg Gätjens
Jörg Gätjens studied in Hannover before joining the design team at Nils Holger Moormann. In 2002 he founded his own atelier in Cologne, with interior accessories, furniture, and interior fittings being the focus of his work. Reduced to the essentials his designs like to surprise us with an unexpected twist, often taking a humorous but witty approach. Since 2004 he is responsible for art direction at the German company Details. In 2007 he founded Florales with his wife Anna. He has been lecturing at the Ecosign academy for sustainable design in Cologne since 2014.
Max Frommeld
Max Frommeld focuses primarily on improving daily procedures by questioning the items that surround us. Growing up in Ulm, Germany, a city with a long tradition of industrial design, his interests lie in the direct confrontation with materials and production processes. In 2004 Max Frommeld moved to England 2004 to study product and furniture design at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design. Following a stopover in the design team at Nils Holger Moormann, he graduated with an MA from the Royal College of Art in London. Max Frommeld currently lives and works in London.
Tom Fischer
Tom Fischer initially worked as a chef in a renowned star Michelin star restaurant, before studying design at the academy for fine arts in Nurnberg. His collaboration with Nils Holger Moormann began in 2004 with the Buchstabler, a piece of individually configurable book furniture. In 2008 Tom Fischer founded his own furniture label Fischerundfritze and developed products that were produced in the area and are climate neutral. Tom Fischer lives and works in Nurnberg.
Carmen Buttjer
Carmen Buttjer considers herself to be a designer. That can refer to anything: Furniture, glasses, rooms, systems or stories. She searches for structures, connections, patterns and spaces like a data detective to discover something about the people between the things. Carmen Buttjer in interested in their motivations and that which keeps them awake at night. That is something that surpasses pure functionality. As well as being a designer, Carmen Buttjer is also an author and is involved in social projects.
Swen Krause
Swen Krause was born in Frankfurt am Main. He initially completed an apprenticeship as an energy device mechanic and electronics technician, before beginning to study interior design and design at the FH Mainz. After specialising in the areas of screen design, web design, exhibition design and project support he was involved in different projects. In 2001 he designed his versatile magnetic shelf Magnetique for Nils Holger Moormann.
Lukas Buol, Marco Zünd
After training as a structural draftsman and studying architecture together at the Basel School of Engineering Lukas Buol and Marco Zünd founded their own architecture office in Basel in 1991. Based on the success of numerous study contracts and project competitions, they were commissioned with many architecture projects and individual excursions into furniture design. In addition to these fields of activity, Lukas Buol and Marco Zünd also work as visiting lecturers and guest critics in various institutions.
Oliver Bahr
Born in Bremen, Jens-Oliver Bahr studied product design in Hildesheim. His interpretation of minimalist design is to achieve a lot using little means. In 2011 he, together with Bastian Demmer, founded the label Statthocker which originates from the concept of recycling decommissioned street lamps.
