Cologne Creative: Thomas Schnur

Cologne isn’t a city which creativity only visits every January in the form of the IMM Cologne furniture trade fair and the Passagen interior design week, but is a city in which creativity can be experienced all year round: and no we don’t mean Carnival! We definitely don’t mean Carnival! Rather genuine creativity of the sort that enriches, advances, challenges and entertains. In addition to being home to seven creative colleges, including the Köln International School of Design, KISD, the Kunsthochschule für Medien and the internationale filmschule köln, Cologne is also home to a healthy community of architects, photographers, film makers, artists, musicians and designers. Under the title “Cologne Creative” we aim over the coming months to introduce some of those individuals who help breath life into contemporary Cologne creativity, creatives such as product designer Thomas Schnur.

Born and raised in Germany’s Saarland Thomas Schnur initially completed a carpentry apprenticeship before studying Product Design at the Fachhochschule Aachen, a period of studies which included a semester at the École Supérieure d’Art et Design de Saint Étienne, and an internship with Mathieu Lehanneur in Paris. Following his graduation in 2011 Thomas Schnur established his own studio in Cologne from where has undertaken numerous product, furniture and interior design projects including the room divider Barry for Naughtone and the coat rack Gravity for Nomess Copenhagen.

We first became aware of Thomas Schnur in context of the exhibition “Objects for the Neighbour” staged during Cologne Design Week 2013. Co-organised by Thomas Schnur together with Kai Linke and Karoline Fesser, Objects for the Neighbour presented works by 8 young designers and was one of the genuine stand out events at Cologne 2013 – in terms of concept, realisation and content: and was followed in 2014 and 2015 by equally entertaining Objects and the Factory and Objects in Between.

We met up with Thomas Schnur to discuss the reality of life as a young designer, and the reality of life as a young designer in Cologne, but began as ever by asking why design?

Thomas Schnur: I initially completed a carpentry apprenticeship and through that I first came into contact with design. I’d always been interested in painting and architecture, but then during the carpentry apprenticeship I became increasingly interested in furniture design and that then inspired me to apply to various design schools.

smow blog: Following your graduation you moved to Cologne, was that simply a case of increased professional opportunities, or…..?

Thomas Schnur: In truth it was more or less chance. After finishing in Aachen I continued living there and worked as a freelancer in a design office, and then a friend was moving out of his flat in Cologne, it was still available, there was no one lined up to move in, and so I decided to take it. Which was also the logical step, I was perfectly happy in Aachen but knew that at some point I would leave.

smow blog: An unplanned decision but the correct one?

Thomas Schnur: When I first set out on my own I thought Aachen was a good location, so somewhat isolated, a little out of the way and thus somewhere where I potentially wouldn’t be so influenced by what others are doing. I however very quickly realised that the further removed you are from colleagues, customers etc the greater the daily problems, and so in that sense yes the move to Cologne was definitely the correct one.

smow blog: And is Cologne a good city to be based as a designer?

Thomas Schnur: I believe so, yes. Here in Cologne we have a relatively large amount of industry, and at the same time a lot of handwork companies and trades, in addition it is very central, you can be very quickly anywhere, and the city itself is lets say, improvised, similar in a way to Berlin. Then there is the way the locals identify with the city and that despite the fact it is not attractive in a classic sense, as a city it was more or less thrown together after the war, you can still see the scars, but the fact that everything is open makes the city very authentic.

smow blog: Does IMM help Cologne as a design centre, or is it just something that happens once a year, but otherwise has no relevance…..

Thomas Schnur: I think it definitely helps, not least because it makes establishing contact with manufacturers and other industry players a little bit easier.

smow blog: You don’t just exhibit during Cologne Design Week, but with the “Objects…..” series have also been active as an exhibition organiser. What was the background to the exhibition series, what was your motivation?

Thomas Schnur: Similar with the move to Cologne that is all something which happened rather than was planned. The photographer Sven Lützenkirchen had a space available and in which he wanted to stage an event during Passagen. At the same time Kai Linke, Karoline Fesser and myself were actively considering how and where we could organise an exhibition, in particular an exhibition which presented works from designers of our generation, if you will, to be a voice of our generation, and the space Sven had available was perfect for our needs…..

smow blog: Changing tact a little, it’s now, more or less, five years since you established your own studio. As an experience has that been harder than you expected?

Thomas Schnur: I thought it would be hard but the reality was then even harder! The first two or three years you don’t make enough from design to support yourself and so must look for other sources of income, but that’s the way it is and it would be naive to imagine it otherwise. However for me having my own studio was always the only option, and it always felt the correct thing to do.

smow blog: But self producing has never been an option?

Thomas Schnur: No. I wouldn’t rule it out, everything is possible, but at the moment it isn’t an option for me because once you start having to deal with distribution, marketing, financing etc you have less time for the designing, and that is ultimately the most important. In addition there are other people who are better at selling furniture than I am, my strengths are in the design process and so it is sensible that I concentrate on that.

smow blog: “Design process” is a good keyword, has your approach to your work changed over the past five years?

Thomas Schnur: What has changed is the context. Whereas previously I was always developing my own projects based on my own ideas and my own intentions these days it is a lot more based on briefings from companies who come to me with a particular wish, or a particular idea for a product. What has remained the same is that when I start working with the project I try to find a sort of wormhole through which I can work my way ever deeper into the project with the aim of focussing on just one, central, aspect. And through this enforced restriction of the creativity new possibilities and new approaches become visible.

smow blog: And looking briefly to the future, are you planning staying in Cologne, or….?

Thomas Schnur: In so far as nothing unexpected happens then yes the current plan is to stay here in Cologne and continue developing the studio, step for step. It is very satisfying to see how things have developed here and so for me I see no reason to leave Cologne.

More information on Thomas Schnur and his work can be found at www.thomasschnur.com