Embru
Switzerland

Tradition and innovation: for over 100 years Embru has been developing, refining and manufacturing metal furniture in Rüti near Zurich. Even as early as 1931 the company began a long-standing cooperation with some of the great architects of Modernism, among them Alvar Aalto, Marcel Breuer, Gustav Hassenpflug and the Swiss Avantgarde representatives Max Ernst Haefeli, Werner Max Moser, Alfred Roth and Rudolf Steiger. Whilst these furniture designs followed the Bauhaus tradition they simultaneously demonstrated a distinct “Swiss” attitude. Most significant during this period was the aluminium furniture by Marcel Breuer. Today, some of the designs from that period are again being produced by Embru, and keep the history of Swiss design alive.

Some time after its founding, Embru started to focus on furnishing purpose-built objects. Some groundbreaking examples were represented in Embru’s adjustable school and hospital furniture. A further highlight was the introduction in 1978 of a radically new concept for office furniture. The Ergodata table system sold, or licenced, over 100 million workstations worldwide.

Today’s standard of office furniture is embodied in Embru’s modular system eQ. Without the use of any tools it is possible to create a variety of office environments. An important feature is the sound-proofing which is so crucial in open plan office spaces.

The new chair programme by Swiss designer Christophe Marchand demonstrates that tradition can be a basis for innovation. Here, the familiar material PAG Timber takes on a new, innovative identity through a groundbreaking 3D-deformation process. This chair programme has been offered by Embru since 2006. In Germany the products are distributed via the Embru Deutschland GmbH in Bensheim.