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Modular USM furniture was a pillar of the hip interior For a while – but you may not have noticed it. Slick and practice rather than ostentatious, the The chromed frame storage system was a classic Since the 1960s, out of pure accident. It was initially designed by the architect Fritz Haller for the factory and the offices he designed for the Swiss company – then a manufacturer of window fittings.
The “very futuristic” factory attracted visitors, explains Mirko Müller, managing director of USM UK UK, but the sustainable duration was utility, adaptable and articulated furniture. When the Rothschild Bank's board of directors went, they asked the USM to adapt to the entirety of their new Paris branch. “This is when the USM decided, ok, let's do it. Let's start by producing furniture, ”explains Müller. Since then, he has been the same, he said: “Do not react to all trends and the new direction is one of the secrets, I believe, why the USM was so successful.”
This makes his collaboration with interior designers Buchanan Studio all the more impactful. The 11 pieces, in a range of colors, subvert with playful engineering of the USM with play: the edges are stacked to create a double decorative bullosis; Different color panels are combined in a leader; A pink cut comes out of a white auxiliary table; The Table of Kisses – Far from the usual effective use of USM space – is in form X.
Since 2018, Buchanan Studio, based in London, has carved a niche creating colorful and theatrical interiors – including a labyrinthine house and a gallery for artists Philip and Charlotte Colbert, And a dining greenhouse filled with oversized narcissus for the white Raymond manor in Raymond in Quat'Saisons – as well as its own range of furniture marked by daring patterns and modern and thick silhouettes. The co-founders of husband and wife Angus and Charlotte Buchanan are longtime fans of the USM. Angus first discovered the range while having work experience with Mario Testino in adolescence. The fashion photographer had “a full -black USM office,” says Angus, “and I just remember having thought that it was the coolest thing I have ever seen: it was so smooth.”
USM furniture is elements in many of their interior design projects. Customers, says Charlotte, may not immediately recognize the USM name until they see the parts, “so they don't know they know it”. Their objective at the start of collaboration, known as Angus, was to take “this practical, utility, perfectly designed and designed system” and make it “a little more fun”.
Buchanan Studio approached the USM, but it comes at a time when the brand is increasingly experimenting – one of the most instagrammed strengths of APRIL Design Week Milan was its bathroom installation for the skin care brand of Pharrell Williams.
“I was very open,” explains Müller, who worked with them to provide furniture for their projects. “We need this fresh and new perspective of people outside the business.”
“This is a piece of the USM that we had in our lives forever,” explains Charlotte, pointing to a buffet stacked with magazines from their London studio. Their own plug is “a kind of reinforced version”.
“It is quite exciting, this one, because it is certainly not something that Usm would do. They are so practical and sensible, ”adds Angus.
But the USM was not difficult to persuade with regard to the Trenza. Personalized pink – A signature by Buchanan Studio – was a little more difficult. The USM very rarely creates new colors, although an olive green introduced a few years ago has become a bestseller in the United Kingdom. “We did it at the end,” says Müller “and I think it makes him very exciting.”
“It would not have been possible 20 years ago; USM was not open for this kind of conceptions. ”
With each room available in a range of colors, including three shades of marble tops for certain padded parts and cushions for a bench and a stool (something USM had never done before), the shrinking was almost the most difficult part of the project. “We had to trace the line,” explains Angus.
There were other difficulties, such as having to “cheat” the programming of the USM. The two parties compare the furniture to Lego, but in reality, there are a certain number of presets: the factory software could not treat certain conceptions. “So we had to simulate pieces, claiming that we set foot here, and that, and the other, because it was a” computer does not say, “says Angus.
But the hiccups did not postpone them, said Angus. Would they do it again? “We can start tomorrow.”
Price £ 379 – £ 21,794; BUCHANAN.STUDIO
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