The General Design Institute withTrix and Robert Haussmann. Furniture for Röthlisberger

Through their mutual acquaintance with Teo Jakob, a very fruitful collaboration between Robert Haussmann and the Röthlisberger furniture workshop emerged in the 1950s. Between 1960 and 1977, special individual pieces of furniture and interior fittings were created, such as a simple coffee table with a glass top made of Marbrit glass or a retail space for IBM in Bern. After the recession in the 1970s, the family business Röthlisberger freed itself from dependence on large clients and developed its own collections with various renowned designers such as Teo Jakob, Koni Ochsner, Ueli Wieser, Hans Eichenberger, and Trix and Robert Haussmann, combining craftsmanship and industrial production while allowing the designers as much creative freedom as possible. The first presentation of the furniture in 1977 was a great success, and soon the collection established itself; every five years, eight to twelve new pieces were introduced. Starting in 1979, many experiments in artistically and craftily made furniture were created with Trix and Robert Haussmann. These were marketed not as furniture but as 'objects' – in a limited number of 15 pieces each: column stump, column cabinet, wall commode, and bridge desk. All objects were produced in olive ash veneer and in color coating. This publication presents the furniture developed by Trix and Robert Haussmann at the General Design Institute from the Röthlisberger collection.