the philosophy
anthologie quartett commissions a range of products, created by architects and designers with very different - often contrary - design philosophies.
in an age in which almost any product can be made in almost any location, anthologie quartett attaches great importance to having the designs created in the regions and places of europe where the materials and applied technologies are especially typical: bohemia, tuscany, veneto, impruneta, lauscha, limoges, murano or vietri, to name but a few.
the majority of these are contemporary designs specially created for anthologie quartett; besides these contemporary design concepts, however, anthologie quartett also offers a (select) number of products which it considers to be particularly historically relevant, making them (re)-accessible for the first time.
however, anthologie quartett does not just see itself as a maker of contemporary or historically important products; in its company-owned museum MUS´ign it also exhibits a number of very individual design concepts that have never been seen on the market before.
the story
anthologie* quartett came into existence in september 1983 as a collection of the architecture, design, art and fashion gallery quartett in hannover. it presented its first collection at the cologne furniture fair in january 1984 and the milan furniture fair in september 1984, with designs from bellefast, borek sipek, ettore sottsass, matteo thun and daniel weil.
in 1987 anthologie quartett became detached from quartett and was launched as an independent company with its registered office in schloss hünnefeld/bad essen in lower saxony.
in 1989 the best friends - modern jewelry collection premiered at the milan furniture fair. in 1990 the design museum MUS`ign was launched in the westphalian castle hollwinkel.
in the 1980s anthologie quartett above all commissioned a large number of accessories and objects from more than 50 designers from all over europe; in the 1990s, greater emphasis was placed on furniture and lamps; for this reason, anthologie quartett has been operating since 1997 under the subline objects, furniture & lighting.
in 1998 the cabinet collection ensemble was presented at the cologne fair, with details from garouste & bonetti, bohuslav horak, alessandro mendini, george nelson and others. at the ambiente in frankfurt, the gartenreich garden furniture collection was presented for the first time.
since 1999 anthologie quartett and best friends have been operating together with the new subline furniture lighting objects jewelry.
an architectural programme with international architects was elaborated in 2000: anthologie quartett architecture.
in 2002 anthologie quartett struck a new path with the anthologie quartett upholstery collection, which contains projects of very renowned designers such as karl friedrich schinkel, claude bouchard, enzo mari and others, thus closing a further gap in a range of products that will continue to enrich the collection of anthologie quartett with new designs.
in 2003 anthologie quartett took up an important but forgotten trade fair tradition of showing complete holistic apartments, innovative room ideas or thematic houses. under the title holiday home at the potsdamer platz - a holiday apartment in berlin for two persons and two dogs and above the roofs of frankfurt - an apartment in frankfurt especially for weekdays anthologie quartett showed completely furnished apartments demonstrating furniture, lighting and accessories from a great variety of designers.
in 2005 textile designs (cushions, carpets and table linen) were included in the collection, further supplementing the subline: furniture, lighting, objects, jewelry, textiles.
in 2007 anthologie quartett introduced a collection without designer names for the first time: the standards are everyday objects that have not been (re)designed by a designer but which have been turned into particularly high-quality products, without (expressly) having been "designed", by minor, unnoticeable alteration to their formal, functional and material quality.
to demonstrate the wide range of this collection, which bears many hallmarks and often consists of contradictory design items, anthologie quartett is presenting (for the first time in paris at the maison & objet and in frankfurt at the ambiente 2008) a large part of this collection in the context of a retail store.
entitled anthologie quartett - modern luxury made in europe, real living situations and still lifes from the products of considerably varied architects and designers, detailed lighting presentations and limited unique pieces will be staged against the background of an extensive fabrics collection - as in a real shop - which in their entirety stand for modern luxury, substantiated not only by time-consuming design research and intensive design work but also by precious materials and elaborate handcraft.
to round off its collection with special colours and fabrics, anthologie quartett is launching an extensive textile collection in 2008, comprising carpets, fabrics, table and bed linen.
as with the other areas, furniture, lighting, objects and jewelry, the textiles collection also includes creations by designers and architects, as well as noname fabrics and rugs. the majority of the fabrics stand for classic fabric qualities, such as damask, cavalry fabric, linen, moiré, rep, horsehair, velvet, canvas and silk, whose main characteristic is not their special design but their outstanding quality.
these standards of textile history stand in contrast to the collections (soft)architects, with designs by great architects such as william morris, gio ponti, piero fornasetti or josef frank, and (soft)czars, as a homage to famous fashion designers.
at the start of the new decade, anthologie quartett is again striking out in a new direction. while lighting has been an important part of the collection since the mid 1990s, in future it will play the main role in the context of anthologie quartett in all conceivable technologies: from oil lamps and candlestick holders to classic light bulbs, halogen bulbs, led and electroluminescence: anthologie quartett - architectural and decorative light.
* anthologie (greek: collection)
