In addition to developing innovative furniture concepts for the office, outdoor and kitchen sectors, the Berlin design studio of architect Michael Hilgers has been working on space-saving solutions for compact living for a decade; the award-winning flatmate secretary is considered a pioneering classic for living in a limited space.
The design methodology of 'pragmatic design' developed by Hilgers focuses on the (space) problem to be solved:
With this design principle, the trained carpenter deliberately ignores conventional comparable products that are already available and thus develops a new, individually suitable and above all practical solution on a blank sheet of paper.
The resulting product appears familiar at first glance, but offers an innovative answer to everyday living problems through its reinterpretation, hidden functions or an amazingly simple construction.
Michael Hilgers is never interested in inventing a spectacular form; he is more interested in discovering the 'special in the everyday'.
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Besides the development of new furniture concepts for the office, outdoor and kitchen industry, the Berlin based design studio of architect Michael Hilgers has been developing space-saving solutions for the compact living for a decade now; the multi-award-winning flatmate desk is a pioneering classic for living in a limited space.
The design methodology of 'pragmatic design' developed by Hilgers focuses on the (space) problem to be solved:
With this design principle, the trained carpenter deliberately ignores conventional comparative products that are already available and thus quasi develops a new, individually fitting and above all practical solution on a white sheet of paper.
The resulting product appears familiar at first glance, but offers an innovative answer to everyday living problems through its reinterpretation, hidden functions or an amazingly simple construction.
Michael Hilgers is never interested in inventing a spectacular shape; he is much more inspired by discovering the 'special in the everyday'.
Hilgers‘ erklärtes Ziel ist es dabei, seine Entwürfe soweit wie möglich zu vereinfachen, damit sie sich ganz im Sinne eines Werkzeuges einfach nützlich machen. Jede weitere Reduktion würde das Produkt seiner Funktion und damit seiner Existenzberechtigung berauben.
Gemäß seiner pragmatischen Designphilosophie ist ein Produkt umso besser und selbstverständlicher, je weniger Worte benötigt werden, um die dahinter stehende Idee zu beschreiben.
english:
Michael Hilgers does not see himself as a typical service provider for industrial design, but rather as a free, innovative thinker in the sense of applied art. A solid basis as a cabinet maker and trained architect serves as the foundation for his unbiased, free creative process.
His minimalist works are rarely created on the basis of a rigid briefing, but are usually the result of an unconventional, initiative-based research trip that is always guided by the search for "the good idea".
.In an oversaturated world, Hilgers discovers space for sustainable innovation, especially at the interfaces between indoor and outdoor space, architecture and nature, and work and living. His objects open up unoccupied niches by connecting adaptively and symbiotically with their environment.
Hilgers' declared aim is to simplify his designs as much as possible so that they are simply useful in the true sense of a tool. Any further reduction would rob the object of its function and thus its right to exist.
According to his pragmatic design philosophy, the fewer words needed to describe the idea behind a product, the better and more natural it is.