USM Haller
USM – “Ulrich Schärer Münsingen” – stands for timeless design and the highest levels of quality.
The successful Swiss company which specializes in furniture systems, 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.
The success story of this family business begins in 1885: as hardware store and locksmiths in Münsingen, near Bern (CH), 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 completely neutral in concept and could be converted or extended according to requirements. It was the inspiration behind the fascinating USM Modular Furniture “Haller” product line which USM originally developed for its own use, by transferring from the macro- into the micro-sector, so to say.
USM Haller Modular Furniture was launched onto the market in 1965 and since then has become a watchword for timeless design all over the world. In 1988 it was decided in Germany for the first time ever that the USM Haller furniture system is a work of applied art and is protected by copyright. Its acceptance into the Design Collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York (USA) at the end of 2001 is a high distinction and confirms the artistic character of the product. The famous classic is used in offices and public buildings as well as in the private sphere.
