USM U. Schärer Söhne AG

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History

The story of this family business begins in 1885: as hardware store and locksmiths in Münsingen, near Bern in Switzerland, far removed from design and furniture making. In the Twenties, the company developed into a small factory specializing in window fittings. After the Second World War the company extended production to include metal work and sheet-metal working. At the beginning of the Sixties, when Paul Schärer, junior, Dipl. Ing. ETHZ, joins the company, a decisive step towards the modern design-orientated industrial company was taken with the commission for the construction of a completely new factory. The architectural commission went to Fritz Haller, at that time an architect based in Solothurn (CH), later to become a professor at the University of Karlsruhe (D). The functional building, based on a modular steel construction system, was the inspiration behind the fascinating USM Modular Furniture Haller product line which USM originally developed for its own use.

USM Modular Furniture Haller

USM Modular Furniture Haller was launched onto the market in 1965. 1969 mass production and sale of USM Modular Furniture Haller begins. Each USM Modular Furniture is constructed in a modular fashion and is based on three basic elements in each case, a fact which facilitates limitless diversity for the individual creation of furnishings is used in offices and public buildings as well as in the private sphere:

- The ball (in chromed brass)

- Connecting tubes (in chromed steel)

- Paneling elements in eleven different colors and three different materials (powder coated steel plate, perforated metal, and glass)

Today, USM Modular Furniture Haller has become a timeless design classic. Acceptance into the Design Collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York (USA), which followed shortly after at the end of 2001.

Other product lines

Over the past years other product lines have been developed which are mutually compatible: USM Display (presentation system in 1989), USM Kitos (modular table system in 1990) and completed by USM Inos (Interior Organization in 1996). With the launch in 1999 of its space-creating and room-shaping office furniture system, USM eleven22, USM is building on the basic philosophy of its classic designs. At the same time USM has broken new ground in fulfilling the many demands of today's computerized workplace which is constantly being reorganized and which has to operate with scant resources.

Today, USM U. Schärer Söhne AG, employs around 400 employees at its headquarters in Switzerland and at its sister companies in Germany, France and the USA. The manufacturer with the Swiss production location is represented in over 30 countries world-wide via sales partners.

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