Product families
Series Container DS
Who did it?
When Swiss designer Kuno Nüssli developed a modular furniture system for the Basel art archive "dock:" in 2008, it became miniaturized overseas containers. Nüssli refined the system into a solitary piece of furniture - this is how CONTAINER DS was created. He exhibited the prototypes with various bases at the "Blickfang" design fair in Zurich in 2008. MAGAZIN The designer, who has been a partner of "Blickfang" for many years, got to know the cosmopolitan designer there. MAGAZIN was immediately electrified by Nüssli's containers and struck up a conversation with the designer. The design, based on an artisanal production method, had to be transferred to an industrial scale.
It was fortunate that the designer Oskar Zieta was also at the trade fair. His seating furniture made from hydroformed sheet metal has been marketed by MAGAZIN since 2008. Zieta sees himself as an engineer, a "process designer" as he puts it, and runs a company that produces computer-aided furniture from sheet steel. The three of them, Nüssli, Zieta and MAGAZIN have intensively developed the shape and construction of the CONTAINER DS so that it is now available in many colors and versions as an M product exclusively at MAGAZIN and is one of the most popular pieces of furniture from the series of products developed and produced in-house. Kuno Nüssli lives in Basel, the only Swiss city with a commercial port. In addition to unusual pieces of furniture, he builds ships, ship models and watercraft, some of which are seaworthy, while others are intended as play equipment for urban spaces. Although a trained carpenter, he prefers fine metal constructions. Nüssli's furniture designs are easy to assemble, for the most part without the need for tools, and are finished in bold colors.
Behind the ostensibly technical passion of Nüssli, born in 1970, lies a far-reaching philosophy that transcends the boundaries of design, architecture, art and theory. He is a wonderful rhetorician and inspires students with his ideas as a lecturer. Above all, the former carpenter teaches pragmatism. He teaches what he lives, namely making things himself. In his case, self-made means designing a product, developing it with regional craftsmen, producing it and finally selling it personally to the user. Nüssli calls this microeconomic principle "Kunotechnik", which is catchy and easy to understand. Nüssli's office, where he works two days a week, is located in Basel. On the other days, Nüssli is a lecturer or househusband.
In a world where everything already exists: What is the challenge for the designer? New products should give people the strength and courage to say goodbye to things and become simpler. Which material do you prefer to work with? I am a trained carpenter, but I have to say that wood is a complicated aunt. There are three different shrinkage dimensions, which doesn't make it easy to work with. And the connection of two wooden elements is always a joint - a product is never a single piece, as is the case with steel, for example. Its homogeneity is unique. What do you associate with the word sustainability? In addition to ecological aspects such as avoiding composite materials and minimizing the use of materials, I am also concerned with durability - not only functionally, but also aesthetically. I want to design products that have a certain calmness about them and I like to produce in Europe, as this shortens the distances the products have to travel. **What inspires you? As a Swiss person, I am also interested in size, which may sound a little pubescent. Everything is always small here, and I'm small myself - so size is something very fascinating and challenging for me.
