Nils Holger Moormann
Bruto
Photos by Lorraine Hellwig
Words by Frank Wagner
I’d rather be folding boat captain than tanker commander. Frank: What would be different if you were? Nils: I’d be even freer, more -reliant on myself. I could work more independently. And I’d be working with my hands. A sense of oneself while exercising the senses. Nils values freedom above all else. This belief transcends mere platitudes to become the apparent core of his being. Nils Holger Moormann founded the eponymous furnishing company 37 years ago.
Nils comes across as loud, hearty and jocular. A man that follows his own mind, but his gut feeling most of all, he mistrusts anything with the appearance of convention. He has his own views, and he lives and breathes them. Nils lives in a converted forester’s cottage heated with a single open fire. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Nils Holger Moormann has now achieved success after the early days when he ended up sleeping in his VW minibus after -plying his sales routes. N: Some of our products have been selling very well for a very long time. The FNP shelving system (the initials stand for FlächenNutzungsPlan or ‘space use plan’) is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Others sell much less well, or even badly. But we still only manufacture the products that are close to our hearts. Full-on subjectivity. Full-on risk. There are no other criteria. No market -analyses. No strategic business model. No target group profiles. We only pursue product ideas with standalone quality that has fully convinced us. And that we can love. Against this backdrop, we review every product in the collection, year after year. We only add a maximum of two newly developed products per year.
We chat, circling around our statements. In my mind’s eye I see Hohenaschau Castle, with the company’s office, showroom and development workshop housed in a riding and stable complex dating from 1895 and now custom-renovated, which extends northwards at the castle foot. The icehouse, once a notorious club, is behind the wall towards the castle. Kampen-wand mountain is on the left. What’s our main focus here? Here and now. By phone. We know each other. We know each other too little, or not at all. We really should go hiking together sometime. F: Over the past 30 years you’ve built up something in Aschau that is truly remarkable and valuable: a collection of furnishings that currently spans around 50 products, a sustainability-focused network of local craftspeople and manufacturers from across the Aschau region, a logistics and shipping centre and a great guesthouse. Honestly, I can imagine what that all involves and I have the greatest respect for it. Do the people in Aschau like you?
Aschau is located between Munich and Salzburg, to the south of Chiemsee lake on the fringes of the Alps, just where the mountains begin to soar into the sky. A tranquil place. But Bavaria wouldn’t be Bavaria if it welcomed change. In the best case, everything should stay just the way it is (for all eternity). N: No, not at first. They do now. I think we share a certain stubbornness that acts as a bond between us.
Nils Holger Moormann’s success is remark-able, not least because the small furniture company has carved out a position in an -industry that today is almost as fast-paced as the world of fashion; new designs are launched every month and withdrawn again if they fail to catch on. N: Design isn’t sexy any more … nor is it a synonym for sustainable quality. -Design has become an attribute that suggests quality more than it actually achieves it. The speed with which our lives pass us by often prevents us from noticing this distinction.
But then, in 2019, Bruto from Konrad Lohöf-ener came along. The obverse of this trend. Bruto has no aspiration to spark love at first sight. More a frame than a finished seat. Nothing that’s designed to please. Or not at first sight, anyway. It will take time for Bruto to gain market visibility. But in the near future it will be joined by the Brutissimo lounge chair and matching coffee table. Audibly grinning, Nils adds that he has already landed a major order (for Berge [Mountains], his Alpine retreat).
Again and again, Nils succeeds in attracting talented up-and-coming designers to Aschau. Like Konrad Lohöfener from 2010 to 2015 and Florian Schregelmann from early 2017. The same year when Konrad came with the first prototype of Bruto to Moormann. Since then Konrad and Florian, who is product designer at Moormanns Designteam worked together on the chair. An excellent reason to ask them about this furniture design. -Instead of a conventional interview, we gave the same set of questions to them both. Read their responses here.
There are so many different seating designs around. Why add another one called Bruto? What makes Bruto especially valuable?
K
L
Well, Bruto didn’t even start out as a chair; it started as an experiment. My inspiration was an old wooden clothes peg, which gave me the idea of creating a joint that could use the tension of the wood to hold and fix metal tubing. I tinkered around for a while and added a screw and nut to maintain the stability and tension of the joint. That was the starting-point for a whole series of furniture designs, but it was the chair that turned out to be the most compelling design for me. It expresses its own individual attitude. It had a polarising effect here at Moormann, which actually helped to win people over. Of course that doesn’t actually answer the original question; ultimately, Bruto is just another letter in the great alphabet of chairs, and I hope it’s a valuable addition.F
S
The design has something very rough and raw about it, hence the name Bruto (from the Italian for brute as in brute force). It has absolutely nothing to hide. That captured our imaginations from the start and inspired some very passionate debate. It’s a very polarising design, as we often noticed in our discussions. At first glance it looks more like a prototype or a study. This distinguishes it from the broad mass of nice chairs in the world; in fact, it may even be pushing the limits of what is saleable, somewhere between functionalism and De Stijl. But it’s true that ultimately it’s really only just someone else’s take on a chair design.
-
-
-
-
As a designer, what’s your favourite detail about Bruto?
K
L
Definitely the connection points that recur throughout the chair. They’re so out in the open, not concealed at all. These are the points where the various materials converge–the wood, the metal tubing and the screws. The connection points differ very slightly depending on the part of the chair where they occur, reflecting the various structural requirements, but they have all a common underlying character. That’s what makes the chair so harmonious.F
S
It’s the interaction of the wooden bars, steel tubing and screws that dominates the chair as a whole. This confluence is particularly striking at the point on the back of the chair above the bend in the frame, where a simple, straightforward wooden bar meets a slim, curved piece of metal; carpentry encounters industry. This point sums up the entire chair by turning the spotlight on both the manufacturing process and the design.
What other furniture do you think typical Bruto purchasers would have in their homes?
K
L
I think they might have a whole range of very different homes. In a cluttered study crammed with artefacts and a nice shelf full of books, Bruto would play quite a visually discreet role thanks to its slim legs. It would make space for the other things in the room and simply exercise its essential function of carrying and holding. But in a bright, sunny room with a sparse, clear interior and attractive flooring, its graphic lines would be to the fore–a little like having a drawing in the room. I can imagine it standing by a window with not too many other objects around it, and perhaps a good reading lamp nearby for spending a contemplative evening.F
S
I don’t think there is any such thing as a typical Bruto purchaser. I can imagine Bruto in a lot of different scenarios; as a carefully curated individual piece, showcased in a collector’s home, but also as a group around a plain, simple table. It would be equally effective in a smoky bar in the company of a whole jumble of furniture styles.
You’re familiar with every tiny detail of Bruto. What does Bruto have that only you can see?
K
L
When I presented the chair to Nils and the Moormann design team, the prototype was already very far advanced; the picture was already in place, so to speak. What I see in Bruto is the process and all the detailed work afterwards, which we developed together (primarily with Florian Schregelmann, product designer at Moormann). We spent over a year on it, improving and honing every point, tinkering with the design, testing different dimensions, scrutinising the chair from every angle and discussing every aspect. And of course, when I look at Bruto I see all the great people and much-respected artisans that helped to shape its present appearance. They poured so much passion and joy into the design, and that’s what brings the chair to life in my eyes.F
S
Although Bruto has nothing to hide, there is one detail which is no longer visible after assembly. We worked with our carpenter to design and adjust the milled groove where the back is attached. Endless tests were made as we tried out different radii and angles and adjusted them again and again. Every degree of angle at this point has a noticeable effect on the sitter’s position. A lot of patience and effort went into this part of the chair; in the end, it provides comfort and a perfect, smooth form fit.
-
-
-
-
If Bruto was a person, what kind of person would it be?
K
L
Bruto would be a guy who doesn’t need very much to be happy, who values clarity and honesty. A straightforward guy who prefers to get straight to the point when he has something to say. Not an everybody’s darling, but someone that’s friendly, funny–and pig-headed. A good listener with watchful eyes.F
S
A laid-back but pretty stubborn guy, standing contentedly at a bar with a cigarette and an espresso, sunglasses pushed up into his hair, designer stubble. Well-known as a loner, but still liked and appreciated.
Find more interesting stories in issue 08.
