International Design from Upper Franconia

Kati Meyer-Brühl is a name that stands for internationally acknowledged design. Since she started designing upholstered furniture for Brühl in Bad Steben as the company's Creative Director, Kati Meyer-Brühl's work has earned her a growing number of prizes: in her relatively short career, the designer has received more than forty accolades, from the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany all the way to the Chicago Athenaeum's Good Design Award and Green Good Design Award. Besides making innovative use of forms, her furniture also permits new forms of living. But she is not the only creative force at the company, which was founded in 1948: her father and the firm's CEO Roland Meyer-Brühl is also the creator of classic sofas that have become prime examples of modern design. The name Brühl stands for seating concepts that are expressed in a multifaceted, vivacious and accessible design language. Their distinguishing features include unusually versatile usage possibilities and special relax functions.

The sometimes poetic, sometimes minimalistically clear-cut upholstered furniture is made in bright, energy-efficient production facilities set in the idyllic Bad Steben landscape. The locally well-known company attaches great importance not just to integrated workflows but to maximum eco-compatibility as well. It is already more than twenty years since Brühl switched to producing sofas with removable covers. All other stages of production and the materials used are continually updated in line with the latest ecological developments. Wherever possible, components are sourced from regional suppliers. Beyond the highly topical issue of environmental considerations, Brühl also aims to find new, contemporary answers to changing lifestyle habits.

As somebody with a wide range of interests, Kati Meyer-Brühl has a keen instinct for such things. Founded on her studies at Central Saint Martins College in London and Parsons School in New York, her work exhibits not just a thoroughly international flair but a distinct aptitude for imaginative and cosmopolitan thinking beyond the confines of traditional limits. Her designs are full of the joys of life – and convincing proof that, even today, upholstered furniture can still be reinvented. KH

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Photos: Christoph von Haussen, Brühl

BRÜHL & SIPPOLD GMBH
Alter Bad Stebener Weg 1
DE-95138 Bad Steben
Tel. 0049 (0) 9288 955 0
Fax 0049 (0) 9288 955 99
info@bruehl.com
www.bruehl.com