USM Haller Bedside Table with Drawer

Fritz Haller originally developed the now world famous USM modular furniture system for the offices of the Swiss company USM. Haller had initially been commissioned as an architect with the design of new production and administrative building, and subsequently was asked if he could develop a suitable furnishing solution for the interior. USM managing director Ulrich Schärer's specifications were for a system that offered optimum flexibility and rejection of design hierarchies within the company and were geared towards creating an open-plan office. Thus Fritz Haller's modular furniture system that was not initially intended as a serial product, but only the own needs of the company USM. However following a contract to supply objects for the Paris offices of the Rothschild Bank, USM Haller finally went in 1969 from the one-off, custom, production into series production. The shelving system is based on three simple basic elements: chrome plated metal balls, steel tubes and cladding panels available as either coloured, powder coated steel or glass. The minimalist design is mainly defined by the orthogonality of the system, which consists of lines and flat surfaces, a construction which always leads to a cubic form. The intelligent and simple construction principle USM Haller furniture system is highly variable, and USM Haller units can be freely customized to suit different situations of a room. And reconfigured at alter date to meet new situations. The USM Haller bedside table with drawer proves just how versatile this system is; in effect a piece of simple office furniture has been reconfigured as an endearing and charming piece of bedroom furniture.

USM use modern robotics in the production of their furniture system.

Designer

The Swiss architect Fritz Haller was born in 1924 in Solothurn. After training as a draughtsman and completing his architectural studies Fritz Haller designed buildings that are closely associated with the functionalism - most notably schools, workshops and office buildings. In 1961 a commission for the planning of new production and administration building for Münsingen based sheet metal fabricant USM lead to the development of the USM modular furniture system: his only commercially successful furniture design and unquestionably one of his most popular works. Fritz Haller's furniture system has won numerous awards and is represented in the permanent collection of the MoMA in New York. In addition to his architecture and design work Haller also taught at the universities of Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. Fritz Haller died in 2012 in his native Switzerland.

Simple shapes and high functionality characterize the USM Haller modular furniture system.

Manufacturer

The USM Haller's story begins in 1885 in Münsingen near Bern with the establishing of an ironmongery and locksmithing business by Ulrich Schärer. His successor in the second generation, Paul Schärer, commissioned in 1961 local architect Fritz Haller USM with the planning of new premises in the Thunstraße in Münsingen. As part of a follow-on commission Haller was also asked to design a tailored office furniture system for the company. A tailored office furniture system which was to go on to become the classic USM Haller furniture system. Since 1988 the USM system has been protected by copyright, and 2001, they was added to the permanent collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art. Until 1992 USM continued wit the production of the window fittings they had produced prior to the introduction of the USM Haller system; however, since 1992 the company has focused exclusively on the development and production of its furniture system. In addition to the original USM Haller shelves and mobile containers the system now includes tables, special equipment furniture and a whole range of home furniture solutions, including side tables, chests of drawers and bedside tables.

USM Haller bedside table with drawer

Production

USM Haller produce, as they always have, all components of their USM furniture systems at their base in Münsingen near Bern, Switzerland. In addition all metal cladding and door elements are powder coated in Münsingen in USM's new state of the art powder coating facility. A new powder coating facility designed to reduce resource and energy inputs and thus true to USM's understanding of the environmental responsibility of an company such as themselves. An understanding that also includes reducing CO2 emissions and minimizing transport distances. But above all, USM furniture presents its environmental credentials through its very long product life cycle and its infinite variability: once bought a piece of USM Haller furniture need never be replaced.

Fritz Haller: Designer of the USM modular furniture system

Historial Context

In the years after the Second World War architecture and design became increasingly dominated by the ideas functionalism; a design philosophy based on creating a purely aesthetic design language and avoiding unnecessary ornamentation. Thus modern technology, science and functionality were the preferred benchmarks and guides in designing new objects. As a work of the 1960s, the same applies to Fritz Haller's modular furniture system; representing as it does a function-oriented, reduced design solution. Like no other furniture design reflects USM Haller the notion of "form follows function". As a modular systems Fritz Haller's design can build exactly as required to meet the demands of a given situation. And changed as and when the situation evolves. In addition, crucial in the post-war period was the necessity to manufacture furniture industrially and in series. Thanks to its restriction to steel and a limited number of basic elements USM more than meets these demands.

USM window handle. Until the 1990s USM produced in addition to furniture, window fixtures.