“Room for freedom” is one of our founding ideas.

Bernhard Müller – Founder, head, heart, and hands of more – speaks about the first bed, the work of a designer, and the next step.?

Bernhard, how did you become a furniture designer?

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First of all, I was interested in art and design back in secondary school. I went to the library, to the art association, to exhibitions, to the Bauhaus with my parents. I discovered people like Donald Judd, with his minimalism and landscape art. Russian avant-garde designers fascinated me as well, with their sometimes absurd steel structures.

Second, first my sister needed a bed, and then one of her friends. I designed and produced my first bed when I was 17; it was made of steel, produced at a metalworking shop near us in the Münsterland region. There was someone at the shop who showed me a lot of the skills of the trade.?

When I went to Braunschweig to study architecture, I built a floating bed in the room there and walled in a stairway. Of course, that wasn’t allowed. That’s how I moved towards furniture.

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But how did that turn into a company?

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While I was completing my degree, a friend asked me if I could build him a bed. He had an idea, which I scribbled down and welded. I took a picture of the bed in the loft and took it to a furniture store. They said: “That’s great. Can we order it?” I said: “Sure”. I was 22, and was so excited I didn’t know what to do.

The furniture company ordered 60 of them, which I sawed and screwed together out of aluminum with a partner, then delivered using a borrowed VW LT. Three weeks later, we had our next order. We thought: “Oh, what are we going to do now?”

That was the end of my degree program, and the start of my first company. After three and a half years, we went our separate ways, and I set off for Hamburg to start over with more. That was in 1993.

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more has been around for 30 years. The company has reinvented itself several times during this period. Why is that?

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Although everything was going OK, at some point I took a look around at other companies, and asked myself: Why are they so successful? I quickly realized: It’s not just the design, it’s also the images and the stories that go along with them, and the security a well-managed brand conveys. I wanted to achieve that, and we worked very hard to do so.

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When we met one another over 10 years ago, most of the market was solid wood furniture. Then upholstered furniture came on the market. Then there were, and there still are today, new material combinations, marble, brass, wood, steel.

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Solid wood is unbeatable for surfaces. But for very minimalist designs, you need other materials. We started to think more in terms of collections as well. How can I create an overall focus, a feel for the bigger picture? I’m not just thinking about an individual table or chair that we are elevating to a certain design level, but rather about a world that you would want to live in. We have customers who furnish only with our pieces. The great thing about that is that the collections combine with one another in such interesting ways. “Room for freedom” is one of our basic principles. Everything should be possible, and I like people who have the courage to do it.

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How do you get the idea for a piece of furniture?

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For me, it’s always an accident or a little inspiration. The current AVARA table, for instance, has a marble base. I created its shape after I saw two pieces of leather lying on top of one another. I simply found this overlap interesting. Then I made a sketch. And then that’s it.

Sometimes, it helps me to just chop some wood or walk the same route, for instance to walk my dogs along the Elbe. I get a lot of ideas when I do that, and they stick in my mind. Once they are down on paper, they are already very far along.

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So nothing is created based on market observations? Designs don’t have to follow any purpose besides supporting this idea of room for freedom?

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We don’t carry out this kind of planning. We don’t ask ourselves: “How can I get this designer or that designer who is successful at another company right now?” We just take this liberty. There’s no pressure for us to change it. Especially because we don’t have our own production that needs to be producing continuously to be profitable.

We also always take a very free approach to our designs, and develop things that are personally important to us. Earlier, I was very concerned with price. “What do I need to be able to produce this piece of furniture? Will it be received well on the market at this price?” Today, I don’t see things in such a narrow way.?

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Every year, of course, there are new products that are presented at the exhibitions in the spring. How do you handle it all every year, with designs, material research, calculations, prototyping, etc. etc.?

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It is a process, and sometimes it can be nerve-racking. Currently, we are working to differentiate the individual steps so we can structure them better. However, in general I think that translating an idea in a truly compelling way, into the right material, into the right production technology, is one of our strengths.

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Is there a more object that is particularly close to your heart?

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My favorite product in the collection is the Varan table, because it always looks different despite being part of a consistent design concept. You can also combine several of them to create a real landscape. For me personally, this is the strongest design from Gil Coste, almost more of an artwork, more architecture than furniture. It is available in many different versions, as well as a special edition for the anniversary, a coffee table in a special color – in a run of just 30 pieces.?

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What might be the next step for more? What comes next?

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I’ve wanted to move into outdoor furniture for quite some time. I haven’t gone there yet because I’m just not satisfied with the materials. We aren’t going to use teak. The certificates that are available are just not good enough. I’m not going to be responsible for that. We are currently testing different woods as alternatives. Once we are ready, we will use these for our first objects, and move outdoors.

In addition to outdoors, we will be moving more into the project area. This includes conference facilities, for instance. We’ve been doing it for quite a while, much more than is known on the market.

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What about that gets you excited?

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It’s always something new. A collection is a collection. A chair is a chair. The customer can choose the upholstery fabric, and our work is done. But in a conference facility, every situation and every room is different. Is the size right? Can we set this up in the room? Can we fit a twelve meter long table in there?

Adapting the product to certain circumstances and the architect’s requirements – it’s just fun to do.

Hotels are also great. We recently furnished a small hotel in Cologne. We also often work with restaurants. They need complete furnishings, including tables, chairs, or benches. There is a lot of back and forth before the planning is complete, and it’s great to take part in the development. We are going to expand that further.

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Do people today buy furniture differently than they did 20 years ago?

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Today, very few people go to a store to look for inspiration and say: “I want to buy that.” Everyone is prepared, better informed, much more mobile. I myself know how important our website, for instance, is to provide information to our customers.

But I much prefer to work on an analog basis. That is why there will always be a more catalog, because I appreciate this format so much, and our customers appreciate a great magazine or a beautiful book. I don’t think everything is going to go fully digital.

Another interesting thing is that many people who come to us today hire interior architects to do their planning. Then it’s fun, of course, to talk and think about the room together. We also have really clever planners in the furniture stores that represent us, who want to integrate our pieces into their plans to meet the customer’s needs.

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Ecological sustainability is a key driver in many industries. What developments do you see in this respect for furnishings?

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There are very few brands who are doing this on a truly consistent basis. Then there are a lot of brands who are mainly talking about it. I think that, as long as there is no real pressure from the customer side, and customers aren’t saying “no, we don’t want this material anymore,” there won’t be a change in the industry.

We are trying to move further in this direction as well. But it’s not always simple, particularly when you start from a design. For example, we have a new chair from Gil Coste right now, which has to be foamed in a mold; there is no other way to make it. So we make compromises.

Otherwise, we have been using more and more sustainable materials in recent years. Sometimes, this is a result of quality requirements. You ask yourself: Where does this come from? How is it produced? We know all of that. We know that our shelves are only manufactured in western Europe, so transportation distances are short. We know the forests our woods come from. We use leather tanned with olive leaves, plant-based upholstery fill, strapping made of sisal. We are often ecological – including for components customers can’t even see.

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How do you designers collaborate with one another? Designers are often commissioned, after all. Some of these commissions are based on your long-term friendships with one another.

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Yes, Johannes Hebing, who worked for us quite a bit in the past, has been there since the very start. I have known Gil Coste for 29 years. We met at an exhibition and became friends over time. Peter Fehrentz photographed our collections at one point. He just has an amazingly good eye. However, originally he was a designer, and over time has designed many objects for more.?

I think friendship is the basis for our collaboration, but I know it’s not always easy to work with me. Often, I have specific ideas and I make very direct statements. Once I have an idea, it has to be developed right away. Or discarded. No design should stay in the drawer.?

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The interview was conducted by Oliver Müterthies

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