Passagen Cologne 2014: System USM Haller “Facetten” @ (smow) Köln

Aside from death, taxes and heartbreak, the only other certainty in life is that you will, with an unnerving regularity, need new furniture.

Not because the old furniture is damaged or no longer en vogue, but simply because your needs and requirements have changed.

A furniture system that can adapt to these changing needs is thus obviously advantageous.

Developed in the early 1960s by Fritz Haller and Paul Schärer, System USM Haller is such a system.

Composed of a steel tube frame complimented by powder coated steel panels, the heart of the system is the unassuming USM ball: a chrome-plated brass ball with 6 threaded holes that gives the system its flexibility and allows any existing USM unit to be rebuilt and reconfigured as required. The real coup with System USM Haller however, and what makes it particularly durable, is that because the system has remained unchanged since its launch in 1963 – and will remain unchanged in the future – old and new components can be effortlessly combined.

Among the more exotic examples we’ve come across over the years include transforming a USM Haller highboard into a kitchen cabinet, the binary fission of a USM Haller sideboard into two bedside tables, and a family who adapted their kids custom USM nappy changing table into a dog bed.

And not just the form can change, the colours can also be easily altered to better match the objects new function: the recently added Living Essentials colours extending the possibilities and easing the decision process.

As part of the Passagen Cologne 2014 design festival (smow) Köln are presenting the exhibition Facetten [Facets]; a presentation that helps visualise not just how adaptable System USM Haller is, but how effortlessly USM units and USM Haller tables can be combined with other furniture objects in domestic as well as commercial spaces.

System USM Haller “Facetten” can be viewed at (smow) Köln, Waidmarkt 11, 50676 Köln during the store’s normal opening hours. Full details can be found at www.smow.com/en/cologne

A few impressions: