The Sign of the Amphibian

Designer and company founder Kurt Beier started out in the world of white gold: before designing upholstered furniture, he studied at the Porcelain College in Selb. Today you still sense a hint of this background in the sofas and armchairs created by Bullfrog. There is something sculptural, poetic, sometimes even playful about them. And that's exactly what Kurt Beier had in mind when he founded Bullfrog in 1997. After working as head of design for a big upholstered furniture manufacturer in Upper Franconia, he wanted his own label. "I just wanted to have a totally free hand in my designs," he explains.

Bullfrog has developed magnificently and has meanwhile expanded with the addition of several production sites and an airy glass building for the service division. All the firms are independent, all of them at the service of a modern, emotional and internationally regarded collection. Today the combine employs more than one hundred workers throughout Europe.

"Kruetn", meaning toad, was how Kurt Beier once explained the nickname for the people of Michelau to a customer. His American business partner translated this as "Bullfrog", and the name of this truly unusual company was born to the sound of laughter.

The fact that Bullfrog sends far more than half of its upholstered furniture all the way to Arabia, India and in many cases Switzerland isn't the only unusual thing about this company. (Exports don't even account for twenty percent of sales in the sector as a whole). The way Kurt Beier involves the young generation as co-partners is special too. The company has for instance been benefitting from designer Kati Quinger's eye for the big picture ever since she was a student. Forester Jan Beier joined the firm in the 2000s and is now in charge of the design studio and service firm. He is well aware of just how precious evolved values are. The most sophisticated of the "Bullfrog" sofas are produced right next door to the new glass building in Michelau. Experienced upholsterers process leather hides and fabrics from Germany and Italy, cover lounge sofas, position decorative seams, integrate relax functions and create magnificent seating comfort. The Bullfrog upholstery artists have made a name for themselves with their intuitive skills – a reputation that has not gone unnoticed by the committees of the long-established WK Wohnen brand. The sofas Bullfrog creates for the WK furniture stores provide a worldly-wise generation with the standard of enjoyment it wants from life. In fact, cosmopolitanism is Bullfrog's credo: the team is wholeheartedly committed to friendship, partnership and tolerance. KH

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Photos: Christoph von Haussen, Bullfrog

Bullfrog Marketing und Design GmbH
Landwehrstrasse 32
DE-96247 Michelau/Ofr.
Tel. 0049 (0)9571 947 960
mail@bullfrog-design.de
www.bullfrog-design.de