#Industry News
AMBIVALENZ: Restrainedly striking
the art of creating great things in a small space
At AMBIVALENZ, the name says it all: Double-valued, ambiguous and versatile, the folding design furniture from the Berliner creative forge follows the principle of "both, and" and is not just for minimalists or flat-sharing communities. The designs of Malte Grieb are more than just functional temporary helpers in everyday life. "Our products give you the freedom not having to commit", the founder explains the maxim of his furniture label. They have their own character, a wonderfully pure handwriting and a little twist that turns everyday objects into unique furniture. Slim, light and manoeuvrable, they can be placed anywhere, their charisma fills a room and they are convincing with their great functionality.
Behind these simple-looking products is a great deal of work and development. With a lot of pleasure in being creative, Malte Grieb tinkers with his designs until they are perfect. Although he did not study design, but economics, perhaps this is exactly what helped him to find solutions other than the usual ones. And when he himself is at the end of his wit's, he knows where he can be helped. He got support for his first folding chair, for example, from the designer Sebastian Feucht, with whom he worked for a long time on the clever folding mechanism.
"This type of fitting was not available in stores," explains the Berlin entrepreneur, who developed an individual fitting together with Feucht. About a year later, the Fläpps folding chair went into production. In 2012, the time had come for the official launch of AMBIVALENZ, which fits in perfectly with the current micro-living and flexible living trends.
The motto of Grieb is clear: maximum function in minimum space. The furniture inventor only needed 20 millimeters of birch plywood to develop the Fläpps folding chair from a narrow board. Printed with black and white spirals, colourful beams or pink and grey asymmetrical patterns, this multi-talented artist likes to add colour and attract attention with graphic prints. Despite the low material input, the filigree folding chair easily takes on 100 kg and surprises with high seating comfort thanks to its flexible backrest and cantilever geometry. In no time at all it transforms from a sitting utensil into a beautiful eye-catcher that can be hung on the wall as a picture or, if necessary, pushed into the smallest niche.
Over the years, there were offspring and the Fläpps family moved into all living areas: Whether working, reception, dining, living or the kitchen - the furniture system can do everything and everywhere. In a skilful mix, the furniture quickly becomes a multifunctional wall system thanks to its intelligent design. Twenty modules in four widths, five heights and three depths now open up creative design freedom. Unlimited, individual and variable. When folded out, the Fläpps system amazes with a sheer endless variety of possible uses. Those who like flexibility simply reinvent the shelf every day. Variously printed or in white and black. High-quality materials such as birch, stainless steel and canvas round off the concept in a noble way and fit perfectly into the world of urban but minimalist design.
Many creative novelties can now be seen in the AMBIVALENZ showroom in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg and on the website www.ambivalenz.org. The constantly growing product portfolio is distributed in more than 10 countries via the company's own online shop and renowned design dealers. But Fläpps is also being used more and more in the contract sector. In addition to the multiple use in the office and hospital sector, the largest order in the company's history for hotels of the Marriot Group is currently being implemented. The products are also very popular in the trendy object areas of micro apartments, serviced apartments and tiny houses.
Reason enough to present the smart furniture at the international furniture fair in Cologne in 2020. The highlight here is the extremely flexible, modular sofa system Curt. This new development, created in collaboration with the German-Canadian designer Joa Herrenknecht, is also full of exciting surprises. Curt is probably the only sofa system that consists of just one module: a pouf that at first glance appears rather classic. The combination of several of these poufs turns it into a system, from which any conceivable upholstery configuration can be formed.
"There are numerous modular sofa systems that allow for a variety of configurations when purchased. But Curt is totally free," emphasizes Malte Grieb. Because the flexible sofa system continues to inspire with its quick-change abilities even after the purchase and adapts to the wishes of its users at any time. This is possible because Curt is "a cuboid with a square base area and a height that is half the length of the base area," explains the managing director. "The highlight is the unique, patent-pending connection system with the belt connection that can be released at any time without tools.
