Horgenglarus: How the Swiss classic is made
21.4.2020
Le Corbusier recognised the special nature of Horgenglarus chairs back in 1925. To this day, they are manufactured in almost the same traditional way. Wood steaming plays a particularly important role here.
Even before I enter, it smells of wood. A scent that immediately makes me smile. A feeling of brief, total satisfaction sets in. Just like freshly washed laundry, a mown lawn or an open fire. I look over the rooftops and see snow-covered mountains. The Glärnisch, to be precise. At that moment, it's all over for me. And yet I haven't seen anything of what I came to Glarus for.
Durability guaranteed
I came here for the chairs from Horgenglarus. The Swiss originals that are still made by hand today. Initially in Horgen, for many years in Glarus. It all starts with beech wood from the Jura, at least for 70 per cent of the chairs. Sometimes oak or even precious wood is used. "There is an oversupply of wood in Switzerland, which is why it is not a problem to use local wood if it is important to us," says Marco Wenger, CEO of Horgenglarus. Long durability is also important. Because every chair, no matter how old, can be brought to Glarus by the customer for repair. "Look, this one was made around 1900 and only needed a new sanding and a coat of varnish. Otherwise, it's still in perfect condition," says Wenger.
Bending and not breaking
The secret lies in bending. "We don't mill parts such as chair legs or seats to shape, but bend them from a straight piece of wood." To be more precise, Sepp Tschudi bends them. The trained bending expert in grey dungarees doesn't say a word too much, but radiates confidence with every single one. "You have to understand the wood to bend it."
Because if you don't listen to the wood, don't look at the grain and fibres, the wood will break. "The usual two hours at 100 degrees in the steamer may not be enough because the wood fibres have difficulty absorbing water. I have to see something like that," explains Tschudi in his broad Glarus dialect. Once the wood has been properly steamed, he has exactly five minutes to mould it. Using a wood bending machine and a lot of his own muscle power, he turns a wooden slat into a round seat frame in its raw form. After ten days in the drying room, which exudes the scent of a Finnish sauna, the wood has a moisture content of just 4.8 per cent. It is ready for further processing.
This also works mostly by hand. Since the 1990s, there has been a programmable CNC milling machine, but otherwise there is a person behind every step. It is cut freehand, sanded freehand with a belt sander, glued, screwed together and painted. Even the haptic and visual checks are carried out by experienced employees. With 35,000 chairs per year, only 0.1 per cent are returns and 20 to 30 are rejects. These are then passed on to employees or people from the region.
Waste is avoided
In general, Horgenglarus produces very little waste. "We dispose of 200 kilograms of waste per week, most of which is lunch packaging or similar," says Wenger. Employees can fill water into glasses or bottles free of charge. The wood waste is used to heat the entire production hall as well as the drying rooms and the steamer. Shipping the chairs also produces hardly any waste. "The chairs are so robust that we only use packaging material for very delicate special models or at the express request of the customer. Normally they only get a rain cover."
Dressed in this transparent cloak, the chairs travel from the small town of Glarus, surrounded by snow-covered mountains, all over the world and eke out a long existence there. Unless a car manufacturer buys 500 of them for an event and brings them back after a few days because he no longer has any use for them. My heart bleeds. Until that beguiling smell of wood hits my nose again. A feeling of total satisfaction spreads.
More pictures to download: https://www.galaxus.ch/MWS//Release/editorial/horgenglarus.zip
My life in a nutshell? On a quest to broaden my horizon. I love discovering and learning new skills and I see a chance to experience something new in everything – be it travelling, reading, cooking, movies or DIY.
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