And we did things with passion back in December too. Not quite six weeks before the Euroshop, the biggest and most important trade fair of the industry. Six months before that we had started to plan our own trade fair presentation and got more and more entangled with the complicated planning of it. A computer-generated shelf that turns around its own axis – that was the idea, and it seemed impossible to build. Until one day things didn’t feel right any more. Veto. That’s not us. That’s not real.

And without further ado we crumpled up all the plans, sketches and calculations. And that’s when we came up with a new idea: an old hut, weather-beaten and deformed by the wind. And soon we had a plan for the weekend: out into the fields and into the woods, in search of the right den. We found what we were looking for in the back country of Lake Constance and not that far from where we live. Two days later we started to dismantle the hut – first the few remaining roof tiles, then the beams and then, one by one, the individual boards.

And that was our fair stand: the hut itself and all around it a simple setting covered with a black mesh. It couldn’t be any easier, and it couldn’t be any more authentic. That’s certainly what the experts thought who presented the hut with the Iconic Award best of best and the German Design Award. Their reason: a genuine statement, wonderfully implemented.

And those are the projects that are the most fun for us. And that is where we are good at. The projects that allow you to follow with your gut instinct. And when you believe in what you do. When you’re backed by experience and expertise. When the result is genuine and the customer – a brand, a fashion or sports retailer, a catering outlet, a company or a private builder-owner – can identify with the architecture and the furnishings. Identity, handcrafted.