What we do

Our strengths lies in developing and creating interior spaces, architecture and industrial design:

- restaurants, hotels, offices, clubs, etc.;
- retail; cosmetics, fashion, corporate and brand design;
- furniture design, lighting, household products, etc

Philosophy

I do not believe in a particular form or function of design. Be it round, square, practical or simply well-proportioned (and so on) – the elements are secondary in creating design itself. I believe in ‘PURPOSE’. Purpose is what imparts meaning, tells a story, creates value, and at it’s very best can sometimes make an object unforgettable. The driving force behind a real impact in life, and indeed beyond, is a clear sense of purpose. In relation to a set project this purpose can be manifold – a low sale’s price to attract more buyers, a delicate subject to more deeply invoke a certain theme, or quite simply the greater virtue of being beautiful. All these different aspects and methods generate different emotions, thoughts and decisions that, consciously or unconsciously, have an effect on us. The clearer the purpose, the better the effect.

The first step in creating purpose is to understand and define it, in other words understanding the product or the space it occupies. More often than not it is the brand or the client that defines an identity or strategy which then can be translated into the required purpose. Following the method through to the end product guides the choice, the form, the colours, the materials and the necessary function, ultimately giving it it’s existential purpose.   -    Kurt Merki Jr
 

Biography - Kurt Merki Jr

Born in Accra, Ghana in 1978 as the oldest son of Kurt Merki Sr., a Swiss master carpenter, and his Ghanian mother, a fashion designer who studied in London in the 1960s. Growing up between Ghana and Switzerland, Kurt Jr. started his apprenticeship in his father’s furniture factory where he learnt the skills of carpentry – from the export of wooden chopping boards to the production of contemporary furniture.  After moving to Switzerland in 1997 he completed his Masters as a furniture carpenter in Lucerne in 1999. Kurt Jr. moved to Zurich in 2001, where he worked as an interior architect for several different architecture offices over a period of eight years. In 2008 he moved to Milan, Italy to deepen his knowledge of design at the Scuola Politecnica di design. There he successfully completed his Masters in interior architecture and industrial design. In 2009 he worked at Antonio Citterio studio in Milan before shortly afterwards moving back to Zurich to start his own design Studio in 2010.