Kurt Thut (1931 - 2011) Swiss Designer and Manufacturer

Biography

He took over his Father’s workshop and turned it into a specialised industrial manufacturing company that exported products for the first time. This is how Thut Möbel AG came into being, playing designer, developer, engineer and producer. Thut belongs to that rare species of manufacturers who design their products.

Alucobond Sideboard NR.460 designed by Kurt Thut

Whatever sells is allowed.

Thut said about design concepts, “Whatever sells is allowed,” he explains. In 1958 Thut, Robert and Trix Haussmann and Hans Eichenberger founded Swiss Design. It was around this time that furniture from Switzerland began to achieve international fame. Thut drew inspiration for his work from the Bauhaus and met the design industry’s continually changing requirements with an approach that emphasised continuity, imagination, and functionality.

‘Foil cabinet 385’ with shelves

The renowned foil cabinet created by Kurt Thut made a significant design breakthrough in 1994. It is published and honoured everywhere. Robert Haussmann, a fellow architect, says of it, “What Thut does, Thut does well.” I completely agree because I love his inexpensive yet ingenious furniture pieces! The “Thut Foil Cabinet 385” has a very light appearance and a distinctly modern appearance. It fits a simplified style to the essentials thanks to its lightweight 26 kg design. But it also adds a lot of warmth and personality thanks to the wooden components made of natural beech. It hints at the lovely things it holds with its light transparency. However, the Dacron covering, a unique canvas, does not reveal too much.

No. 385 Foil Cupboard (1994) designed by Kurt Thut

KT-221 Bench

The KT-221 Bench, through applying steel to furniture, an iconographic, architectural construction, is objectively functionally designed. The bench, armchairs, sofas, benches, and tables are all part of a distinctive, aesthetically pleasing, seamless product family that can be used in various settings. The quilted seat and back cushions make the KT-221 Bench suitable for use in living spaces as well as lobbies and waiting areas.

Old Bench designed by Kurt Thut | Stylepark

Believing that good design must be simple and simple above all else, Thut’s best-known works remain true to his philosophy. The sideboard of the series 694 (1953) and the sofa KT-221 (1956) for the brand De Sede adhere to these principles.

Recognition

Thut Möbel won the Swiss Grand Prix of Design in 2009. He died in 2011.

Sources

Abendroth, U., & Polster, B. (1999). World design: 1 century, 400 designers, 1000 objects. Pavilion.

Polster, B. (2006). The A-Z of modern design. Merrell.

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