The name just about says it all. During the experiment-happy 1960s, the Frankonian firm put mobile and multifunctional furniture on a market that no longer had room for rigid concepts of domestic life. They were innovators, in the same league as Bofinger or Otto Zapf. Especially the upholstered furniture by architect Hans Hopfer, reminiscent of Bauhaus and the Ulm School in its simplicity and systematic approach, dissolved established furniture categories, replacing them with more flexible forms. The product names in those days are a telling expression of that development. Hopfer’s early Bausystem (Construction Kit) sleeper sofa was followed by Mobiliante and Player, two cushion puzzles that can be changed and expanded and thus adapted to people’s individual needs. The “sofa landscape” Lounge took the principle of flexibility one step further: only three basic elements allow virtually endless seating and lounging arrangements. In the 1970s, pyramid-shaped stackable so-called construction kits by Hopfner and the firm’s founder Peter Biedermann offered an elementary alternative to traditional wardrobes and cabinets. During the next decade, when design was the buzzword of the day, Werner Dechand took over management and expanded the program by adding original designs like Stick (by Eduard Erenski), a coat rack that leans against the wall, a minimalist table frame by Rolf Heide and a few designs by Jan Armgardt, including Tattomi, a “jack-of-all-trades” easychair/sofa/bed that attracted a great deal of attention and still is at the heart of the collection today. After Werner Dechand’s sudden death, his sons Andreas and Markus took over the company that still stands for courage and principles. That includes loyalty to the designers, a loyalty that spans the generations. For instance, Patricia Hopfer, Hans Hopfer’s daughter, is now also part of the Mobilia “family”. Current products are the transparent chaise longue MC 1 ( by Olaf Kitzig), made completely from a single piece of acrylic, the astonishing falter folding furnishings that function without fittings or hinges, as well as the Stapler connector shelves (both by dreipunkt4). The latter are made of a single simple component that is used for the base, top, side frames and backs, making for an extremely flexible shelving system that is the veritable incarnation of the Mobilia collection’s founding idea.