‘The craftsman should be within bicycle distance’: the eccentric, hyperlocal world of German furniture brand Nils Holger Moormann

Like the plumes of white smoke that waft over Rome's rooftops when a new pope is elected, product launches from the Bavarian-based design brand Nils Holger Moormann rarely come around – and its way of choosing new pieces to produce is similarly esoteric. Since its namesake founder established the company in 1982, new products have been chosen by blind submission.

Inside the eccentric world of German furniture brand Nils Holger Moormann

A council of collaborators gathers every so often and plucks a single object from a batch of anonymised proposals. It’s how, in 1998, Konstantin Grcic was able to produce his ‘Es’ bookcases – a simple collection of shelving made of wooden dowels that looks as if it’s being blown over in the wind – just as his career was ramping up, yet before he would become an industry household name. And now, for the first time since 2021, the brand has emerged with a new product, the ‘Liesl’ shelving system, designed by a recent graduate of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, Marie Luise Stein.

'We are a publisher of design,' explains owner Christian Knorst, who purchased the company from Holger Moormann in 2020 and continues to run it according to the eccentric entrepreneur’s strict values. 'We look for ideas from outside designers, and maybe once every few years we find something we’re interested in.' Holger Moormann founded the brand in the 1980s as a law student, essentially on a whim: he had been working as a travelling furniture salesman when he decided to jump into the game himself.

Based in the mountainous town of Aschau in southern Germany, his products quickly gained cult status for their thoughtful, minimal design and hyperlocal production process. Each piece is produced entirely within the confines of Aschau by independent local artisans, many of whom have now worked with the brand for decades. 'The craftsman should be within bicycle distance,' says Robert Christof, Nils Holger Moormann’s head of design, of the brand’s ethos. ‘Our cooperation with our artisans is very close.'

In developing the new ‘Liesl’ system, Stein, alongside Christof and the brand’s in-house product development team, worked with one of Nils Holger Moormann’s local metal artisans to find a composition that would be both functional and fit the brand’s competitive price point. 'The original concept is the same,' explains Christof of the streamlined aluminium modular shelving system, which hangs from the wall suspended by narrow metal lines that thread through the end of each shelf. 'We just had to refine the connection between the panels and the bars and find the right material.'

Within Aschau, Nils Holger Moormann has nurtured a broad network of craftsmen in a variety of mediums, many of whom have been collaborating with the brand for decades. For instance, there are pieces in wood, like the best-selling ‘FNP’ shelves, a modular system made of interlocking MDF planks that has been in the brand’s catalogue for over 30 years.

This collection is produced by one of the brand's several longtime woodworkers, including a character who sources timber directly from his backyard forest. Pieces in metal, like the outdoor ‘Kampenwand’ table, a picnic table with zinc legs that features hammered metal elements resembling rope, are constructed by a septuagenarian, working from a remote shack, who normally makes hunting knives. 'If the authorities come to his place they would shut it down immediately,' Christof says of his unique set-up.

The secret to Nils Holger Moormann’s enduring success is simple: the brand’s products are functional, easy to ship and mount, stylish in the utilitarian sense, and not so expensive that most people are priced out of owning them. In many ways, they can be considered the antidote to high-volume brands with convoluted and diffuse production processes like, for instance, Ikea. And in fact, the Swedish giant has been caught in the past lifting the brand’s designs. In the late 1990s, Nils Holger Moormann sued Ikea for copyright infringement, alleging that its concept for a trestle table was suspiciously similar to the German company's own, designed by Jörg Sturm and Susanne Wartzeck in 1993. And, unlike many independent brands that have gone bust battling the goliath in court, Nils Holger Moormann won, leading the Ikea product to be banned in the German market.

It’s a testament to Nils Holger Moormann’s values that it has thrived this long in an industry that favours cheap production and fast turnarounds. Much of its longevity can be attributed to the community the brand has fostered. Rather than investing in traditional advertising or taking part in international furniture fairs, the company frequently hosts intimate events at its headquarters, set in a rural former horse hospital from the early 1900s. For several summers now, it has held the ‘Salone di Aschau’, a tongue-in-cheek response to the frenetic maximalism of Milan Design Week. It invites similarly minded independent brands (2024 saw Bottone, Dante – Goods and Bads, Farm Group and Haus Otto join in) to exhibit work in the Bavarian countryside, cementing its community and having a bit of fun, too. 'As a publisher, you need to involve other people,’ reflects Knorst. 'We don’t have a star designer on staff. If we didn’t have this ecosystem, we wouldn’t exist.'

moormann.de