furniture designer, born 1958, office in Berlin

 

“Side holds rail, rail holds shelf, shelf holds rail, rail holds side”. What sounds like a piece of modern poetry is actually a brief description of a shelf called Flächennutzungsplan (Land Use Plan), better known as FNP (1989, for Nils Holger Moormann) – a key product for Axel Kufus. It is at once a symbol of the magic of simplicity, of the living tradition of modular furniture of German design and of the way of thinking of its creator. The Essen- born designer became famous through completely different kinds of designs, such as a blue easychair that looks likea mop or the Kellerfensterschrank (Cellar Window Cabinet) in which a concrete cabinet fitted with metal grates stands atop raw tree boughs (in collaboration with sculptor Ulrike Holthöfer). These are products from the eccentric days of “New German Design”, unwieldy object collages with which young designers defied the functionalism that had dominated the field up until the mid-1980s. Kufus, who had already long been a professor of product design, was just taking up design studies in Berlin, a centre of the revolt that was stirring. The path he ultimately chose was decisively shaped by his previous training, however. A carpenter with a master craftsman’s diploma, he is viewed by many today as the German Jasper Morrison. But one might also see him as a representative of primal German design virtues. Hisdesigns betray a profound knowledge of materials and their properties, coupled with a sense of how to pare down material needs and limit himself to straightforward, soft-spoken forms. This is functionalism on a high level, the kind of design onemight call Utilism International, the name of the company Kufus founded together with Morrison and Andreas Brandolini. His products usually have laconic names, such as the Egal shelf (1989, for Nils Holger Moormann) or Kufus table. What’s impressive about them is often the combination of a surprising idea with creative trenchancy, such as in the easy to dismantle Stoeck plywood chair (1993, for Atoll). This penchant for dissecting came in handy for a much more complex project: the Office Kitchen. The modular structure of this multi-award-winning office kitchen of tomorrow (2000, for Casawell, i.e. Alno) makes it extremely adaptable despite verymodest space needs. Now the Berlin-based designer is the first non- Frenchman to be invited to design furniture for the exclusive state- run Mobilier National in Paris, an accolade for which he showed his appreciation with the series Dreimöbel ( ThreeFurniture), a desk, shelf and side unit that display unparalleled simplicity.