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the World Of Hospitality
Fraumaier
Fraumaier - A Shady Character
You may expect a lot from German design:
functionality, straightforwardness or severity but
humour isn’t necessarily one of the things that comes
into your mind at first. Based in a town next to
Stuttgart - the place where Porsche Design invented
their 100 Shades of Grey years before E.L James came
up with her 50, the lighting company FRAUMAIER
is pushing the envelope of how light-hearted German
design can be.
It started in 2004 when the designer Felix Severin
Mack founded FRAUMAIER and named it after
his lady pet dog - a fact that might be considered as
irritating and not necessarily inspiring confidence but
in fact, it turned out to be the memory hook for all his
customers - apart from a nice job with the Mosque in
Oman that cancelled its order after finding out. The
big names that enjoyed his work overshadow that
anyway. FRAUMAIER has furnished the King Abdul
Aziz Center of Cultural Heritage in Dubai, the Musee
du Quai Branly by Jean Nouvel and hotels like the
Marriot and Le Meridian.
Observing the playful range of graphic and weightless
designs, Scandinavia immediately comes into one’s
mind - or as we call it today “the international style” -
in which FRAUMAIER fits in so well, that even IKEA
felt, let’s say “inspired” by one of the products...
But what strikes one at first is the colour range.
Hardly any other lighting company sets such a high
value on colours - not only today but consistently
since the beginnings: floorlamps are available in 13
Website: www.fraumaier.com
standard colours from stock, pendants in a range of
40 colours upon request within just a few weeks. This
is one of the reasons why the well-known design hotel
chain 25 hours is now working on the 3rd hotel with
FRAUMAIER lighting.
Despite the contemporary appeal the designs carry,
you can still feel the tradition behind every one of
them. Maybe it’s the sixteenth century house in which
the office is located. Every product is an advancement
- an “old thought’s new child” that combines familiar
aspects with new ideas. Even the technology respects
the customers wishes of being able to use old
incandescent bulbs or LED retrofit, even revolutionary
multi-dimmers are able to work with both.
FRAUMAIER - the first “good girl” that gets us a treat.