An instinct for wood

It’s hard to think of any other producer of handcrafted furniture that is still as traditional and authentic as Switzerland’s oldest table and chair manufacturer. In some cases, even the premises and machinery are the same as almost one hundred years ago. But it’s not just the Glarus production site that has stood the test of time; the products have too, which is why classics such as the mira, classic, häfeli or moser chairs still number among horgenglarus’s top sellers. Today its products find a ready market not just in Switzerland but overseas too, all the way from New York to Hong Kong. When you visit Glarus, you realise that attention to detail and a passion for all the many facets of wood are the driving forces behind the company – principles the team lives and breathes. Here you can follow the transformation of a piece of wood every step of the way – from the moment it is delivered all the way to the finished chair.

Almost without exception, the firm has been using beech and oak from the Canton of Jura for 90 years. “The trees we use are about one hundred years old and grow on a plateau,” explains managing director Marco Wenger. But he’s not the only one who knows the secrets of the company’s success: you immediately sense that a wealth of expertise is contained within these walls. Some of the craftsmen are the third generation of their families to work at the furniture factory. But many stages of the production process don’t just call for the necessary expertise: a good eye and a reliable instinct for the material are just as crucial. Accurate to within a millimetre, the craftsmen bend the wood into shape, sand the edges by hand and glue or screw the individual pieces together. The chairs are even upholstered here too, at the company’s in-house workshop. Before it is ready for delivery, every single piece of furniture passes through a multistage process in which some steps are done by hand, others by machine. And every single piece is still hand-checked for defects too – a policy that enables the company to keep its returns rate to a minimal 0.1 percent.

Some opulent seating that has been adorning the Federal Palace in Bern since 1902 has just arrived: at horgenglarus, it will be restored and sent back as good as new. “We can restore any horgenglarus product to its former glory, regardless of how old or dilapidated it is,” explains Marco Wenger. Because Wenger knows that, for many customers, a horgenglarus chair is something they buy to last forever and hand down through several generations: “At the end of the day, chairs are the same as people: their true beauty only comes with age.” CI

HORGENGLARUS: The furniture factory was originally founded in Horgen near Zurich in 1880 and expanded with the addition of the Glarus workshop in 1902. Today, horgenglarus is the oldest chair and table manufacturer in Switzerland. Various big names from the Swiss design scene have created distinctive tables and chairs for horgenglarus over the years, including Hans Bellmann, Max Ernst Häfeli, Werner Max Moser and Hannes Wettstein. Today, many of the models in its collection are considered classics.

ag möbelfabrik
horgenglarus

Kirchweg 82
8750 Glarus
Tel. 0041 (0)55 645 34 00
Fax 0041 (0)55 645 34 01
info@horgenglarus.ch

Photos: horgenglarus (4), René Ruis (1)