Tables, chairs to go with them and individual furniture pieces – that sounds like quite a limited, not very exciting product range. But the family enterprise within walking distance of the Lake of Constance has developed an independent and unmistakable profile within just a few decades. The form, especially that of the tables, is oriented on classical Modernism, underscored by the predominant use of metal and glass. An early example is the 1600 Nurglas set of nesting tables (1972), which have now been taken up again in the program, combined with an ambitious variation in painted glass. The principles of transformation and extension in these designs also express functionalist ideas. But perhaps one can also see in them the Swabian characteristics of meticulousness, precision, inventiveness and joy in experimentation. Typical Draenert tables are Euklid (1998) and Titan III (2002), a four-person glass table whose extension panels turn it in no time into an eight-person glass table via visible swivel arms. Another successful model is the patented 1224 Adler (1995), in which even the pullout panels are made of stone. These kinds of small wonderworks cause the eye to doubt physical laws each time they are witnessed. Behind the clever mechanics is often designer Georg Appeltshauser, who pushed the boundaries of seating comfort in both his doubly adjustable Linus chair (2004) and his cantilevered swivelling easychair Coppa. Numerous designs can be credited to founder Peter Draenert, an arts and letters maven who did his doctoral thesis on Hölderlin. The recently deceased senior owner – son Patric has now taken over the business – created the dual corporate profile that unites international style with a regional consciousness. With its very first product, a table on runners called Schiefer (Slate, 1968), he introduced the material taken from the company’s immediate environment into furniture design. He also initiated the “Steinhof” (Stone Yard), an imposing collection of over 200 unusual stone panels from all over the world. An innovation in a different material – glass – is the organically formed coffee table Twist by Wulf Schneider (2005): intelligently extendable and with three hand-blown cone-shaped legs, a virtually poetic composition. Similar to Vitra, the company takes an intellectual approach to its products. This has given rise, for example, to the Art Collection that has been on offer for several years now, a series of freely designed, limited-edition furniture commissioned from architects, designers and artists.