Wilkhahn
Wilkhahn is a German manufacturer of office and conference furniture from Bad Münder am Deister (Lower Saxony), founded in 1907 by Friedrich Hahne and Christian Wilkening — the brand name was formed by merging both surnames: Wilk(ening) + (Ha)hne. The first four decades produced solid beech chairs; the real transformation began in 1946 when the founders' sons Fritz Hahne and Adolf Wilkening took over and, in close collaboration with the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (HfG), developed a distinctive, purist-functional design language. In 1971, Fritz Hahne was among Germany's first entrepreneurs to introduce a 50% employee profit-sharing scheme. Wilkhahn is a recipient of the German Environmental Prize and realised its production site in collaboration with architects Frei Otto and Thomas Herzog as a landmark building for ecological industrial architecture.
Product milestones: FS Line (1980, Klaus Franck + Werner Sauer) — the first intuitively operable office swivel chair with synchronous mechanism, a paradigm for an entire industry generation. Confair folding table (1994, Andreas Störiko) — the first flexible communication table for agile room concepts. Picto (1995) — the first office swivel chair worldwide to receive the Dutch Milieukeur environmental label. ON chair (2009) — patented Trimension principle for three-dimensional seating kinematics. IN chair — seat and back as a single piece using 2-component technology; upholstery derived from the sports shoe industry. PrintStool One: first 3D-printed stool produced in series by any furniture manufacturer (design Thorsten Franck). Design office wiege: founded in 1985 as an independent spin-off of Wilkhahn's development department.
For architects and workplace planners seeking a German office furniture manufacturer with seven decades of design history, documented ergonomic innovation leadership (synchronous mechanism, Trimension), the German Environmental Prize and one of the most consistent sustainability profiles in the German office furniture market, Wilkhahn is the intellectually strongest address in the segment.
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Wilkhahn
Wilkhahn is a German manufacturer of office and conference furniture from Bad Münder am Deister (Lower Saxony), founded in 1907 by Friedrich Hahne and Christian Wilkening — the brand name was formed by merging both surnames: Wilk(ening) + (Ha)hne. The first four decades produced solid beech chairs; the real transformation began in 1946 when the founders' sons Fritz Hahne and Adolf Wilkening took over and, in close collaboration with the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (HfG), developed a distinctive, purist-functional design language. In 1971, Fritz Hahne was among Germany's first entrepreneurs to introduce a 50% employee profit-sharing scheme. Wilkhahn is a recipient of the German Environmental Prize and realised its production site in collaboration with architects Frei Otto and Thomas Herzog as a landmark building for ecological industrial architecture.
Product milestones: FS Line (1980, Klaus Franck + Werner Sauer) — the first intuitively operable office swivel chair with synchronous mechanism, a paradigm for an entire industry generation. Confair folding table (1994, Andreas Störiko) — the first flexible communication table for agile room concepts. Picto (1995) — the first office swivel chair worldwide to receive the Dutch Milieukeur environmental label. ON chair (2009) — patented Trimension principle for three-dimensional seating kinematics. IN chair — seat and back as a single piece using 2-component technology; upholstery derived from the sports shoe industry. PrintStool One: first 3D-printed stool produced in series by any furniture manufacturer (design Thorsten Franck). Design office wiege: founded in 1985 as an independent spin-off of Wilkhahn's development department.
For architects and workplace planners seeking a German office furniture manufacturer with seven decades of design history, documented ergonomic innovation leadership (synchronous mechanism, Trimension), the German Environmental Prize and one of the most consistent sustainability profiles in the German office furniture market, Wilkhahn is the intellectually strongest address in the segment.