S4

The new S4 display cabinet by Hanne Willmann is a quiet affair. “Tecta’s formal language fascinated me right away,” says the designer with a studio in Berlin. “A focus on the essentials and a philosophy based on construction are the hallmarks of Tecta’s products and also reflected in my designs.” When she created the new S4 display cabinet Hanne Willmann paid several visits to the company’s headquarters in Lauenförde, seeking inspiration in the history and production of the faithful Bauhaus reeditions.

The fact that her display cabinet shares the floating appearance of the famous cantilever chairs was just one of the driving forces of inspiration behind the new piece of furniture. As a little surprise, there is a compartment on the upper level, painted in black, which seems to float on the transparent glass shelves. The wooden body of the cabinet with folding shelves offers invisible storage space. Hanne Willmann’s cabinet simply looks as if it had always been part of Tecta’s Bauhaus range. “That was the challenge,” admits the designer, “to create a piece of furniture that is not loud but quietly fits in.”

The designer, who studied industrial design and lectured on technology and construction in Dessau, among other topics, would like to continue working for Tecta. “Everybody talks about Scandinavian design. So far German design has been associated with products like cars or electrical appliances. But I think that Germany has changed in terms of style – it has become more like Tecta. Surprising, value-sustaining and confident. That is the definition of German design and that is what Tecta means to me.”