In the contract: ROLF BENZ

Rolf Benz has long been active in the increasingly important field of contract business and is a reliable partner with a high level of consulting expertise for architects and project developers. This is important because every project is different and discovering the various furnishing options requires a creative approach. In hotels and restaurants, a trend in recent years has been towards more and more individuality. Here, customisation of furniture comes into play – and Rolf Benz too, as a dependable project-collaborator for designers and architects.

Rolf Benz’s comprehensive contract brochure showcases a selection of completed projects, and makes one want to discover more about what the company has to offer in this sector. It presents pieces selected from both the classic range as well as younger, more experimental collections, that provide independent and innovative solutions for a broad selection of different projects.

The former Hotel Zollernblick, a Black Forest institution, was reinvented last year as the Hotel Fritz Lauterbad, and represents a vivid example of a successful contract project where Rolf Benz was chosen as the comprehensive partner for furnishing.

The Karlsruhe-based architectural firm Archis created a melange of urban style and echoes from the Black Forest in the extension and new hotel concept. A fully glazed reception area with bar and lounge connects the existing listed building with the new structure. In addition to side tables, pieces used in the project fit-out from the Rolf Benz range included the 650 bar stool, the 684 armchair and the Alma and freistil 175 sofas.

In addition, the hotel's restaurant, rooms and suites were also furnished with Rolf Benz furniture. Shades of green and brown and the materials used refer to the surrounding landscape – a coherent interior concept which has already won the German Design Award.

With the hotel's furnishing ‘from a single source’, so to speak, a great formal coherence has been achieved, as the individual objects also harmonise with each other. The furniture itself thus goes towards creating a form branding for the hotel as a whole, which is not only made tangible by means of logos and graphic elements, but can also be grasped and understood in the literal sense of the word.

One might also visit Rolf Benz's flagship stores in Tokyo and Shanghai or the new mono-brand store in Beijing – but a trip to the Black Forest, to the Hotel Fritz, is an experience perhaps not comparable with anything else.

© Architonic