Interview: Rudolf Pütz, CEO Vitra Germany.

Although we regularly use the term “furniture market”, one must technically speak from two furniture markets; domestic and office. OK you could also add retail, hotel, airport etc… but for the sake of convenience let’s consider them as genre-crossing mongrels.
Like folk-rock.

Regardless however of how one categorises the industry, its probably fair to say that the past four years have been no real fun for European furniture producers. Especially not for those involved in the office furniture sector.

Whereas the global financial crisis saw the office furniture market shrink dramatically through 2008 and 2009, figures of 30% and more are often quoted, the home furnishings market was largely unaffected; because while companies didn’t have free capital and so weren’t buying office furniture, private consumers had money and choose to invest in real, high value objects – such as designer furniture – rather than entrust their savings to a financial institution.

An Eames Lounge Chair, for example, will still be around in 30 years. But a bank?

Fortunately for the industry the current daily soap opera that is the Euro crisis has yet to make any noticeable impact on the office furniture market, which recovered positively in 2010 and 2011, and while it still hasn’t returned to “pre-Lehman” levels, the indications give cause for optimism and most producers we’ve spoken to are approaching Orgatec 2012 with a lot more optimism than was the case ahead of Orgatec 2010.

But what about the home furnishings market? How will it cope with the Euro crisis?

Fortunately we know people who can answer such questions. At least for the German market.

At the opening of Album in the Vitra Design Museum Gallery we spoke with Vitra Germany CEO Rudolf Pütz, and before we got on to subjects such IMM Cologne or where the potential for future growth was to be found, we asked if he was confident that the home furnishings sector would remain unaffected by the Euro crisis ……

Rudolf Putz: Home furnishings is very dependent on factors such as the domestic economic situation or unemployment rates and at the moment both are at normal levels in Germany, despite the reports to the contrary in the media. I speak regularly with our dealers and the atmosphere amongst them is very good and they are all happy with the current level of business. However we shouldn’t forget that Germany can’t completely dissociate itself from the rest of the world and so when other countries don’t do so well, then that will eventually trickle through to exports and so to changes in investment and purchasing behaviour in Germany. So at the moment things are good, but we’ve got to be careful.

(smow)blog: And looking to the future where do you see growth potential?

Rudolf Putz: In the past few years Vitra have performed better than the market generally, and I think that when you are innovative and bring new ideas with you then you have chances to grow regardless of the general market situation. Specifically however, in the office sector we are noticing that many large companies are investigating how they can make the step from a conventional office organisation into a modern office world. On the one hand as a response to the changes in working practices brought about by new technology and a more flexible, mobile work approach, but also the shortage of skilled staff means that companies have to make themselves attractive to potential employees. And so those furniture producers who can help and partner companies with innovative concepts to meet the demands of a modern, mobile workplace have good chances for growth.

(smow)blog: New office furniture concepts is a nice link. One of the highlights for Vitra in 2012 is almost certainly Orgatec in October. In 2006 Vitra launched Net’n’Nest, 2010 Citizen Office. Can we expect further developments this year?

Rudolf Putz: Citizen Office is more an attitude that says I have an office with individuals who take responsibility for their own work and who work where they want to. This is something that is possible today but was first considered 20 years ago during the project in the Vitra Design Museum with Andrea Branzi, Michele de Lucchi, Ettore Sottsass and Rolf Fehlbaum. Net’n’Nest is a component of Citizen Office and describes this connection between networked working and quiet, private space. And when one looks closely, one sees that the workplace as such still exists but through the technology that we have today the separation of work from a fixed desk is becoming easier which means that this whole periphery around the workplace, so meeting rooms, collaborative spaces, spaces for relaxation, etcetera, will become increasingly important. And obviously we are continuing to work in this direction and at Orgatec I think we will see further developments of that work.

(smow)blog: We can’t talk about Orgatec without asking about Cologne’s other furniture trade fair, IMM. Vitra are currently very conspicuous by their absence. Is IMM still interesting for Vitra, or have you written the event off?

Rudolf Putz: No, not at all. In February 2010 we opened the VitraHaus and decided to focus the resources that we had available on the VitraHaus because it is something completely new, and was a project that took a lot of energy and required our full concentration. The VitraHaus is now up and running and so IMM is once again something that is an option for us. As a fair IMM is important for Germany and all the relevant customer groups are present. Which means that it obviously makes commercial sense to be represented. I myself was there for two days this year, the mood among the exhibitors was very good, the fair has developed positively over the last couple of years and so a return to IMM is definitely something we are considering.

(smow)blog: And quickly to end. The Bouroullec’s exhibition “Album” opens today in the Vitra Design Museum Gallery; how important are designers like Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Vitra?

Rudolf Putz: The designers name itself is probably less important than the fact that as a company we work together with creative authors who don’t just create products that are functional but also incorporate their attitude and ideas into the work. We then make the accompanying engineering. And from this cooperation comes products such as the table system Joyn or the Alcove sofa, which is in effect a new category of sofa. The Bouroullecs are two very creative designers who work in a highly conceptual fashion which is something that we appreciate and that fits well to Vitra.