Fluted Column Cabinet with 11 Drawers by Trix & Robert Haussmann, 1978

Trix Haussmann (born in 1933) and Robert Haussmann (1931-2021) designed this cabinet chest called “Säulenstumpf” in 1978. It opens with 11 sliding drawers with glass bottoms. One of 15 unnumbered copies, made by Zaborowsky Modellbau | Neumarkt 10 Zürich. Beech and olive burl.
In the early 1970s, Trix and Robert Haussmann, as part of their work as architects, turned their attention to various research projects and experiments in the field of architectural theory. They sought to determine how to supplement the vocabulary of late modern design, which had become exhausted, how to revive and expand it, either by selectively drawing on forgotten or suppressed elements from the past or by opening up new perspectives for the future. It is clear that this research also led them to take a critical and sometimes ironic look at the banal and trivial aspects of the present.
It was in this context of reflection that the “didactic pieces” were born. These are attempts to present new creative ideas in the form of models. The architects chose this form of model (intended to provoke thought) because they did not want to add yet another verbal manifesto to the many that already existed at the time. The model object, free from any real affectation or constraints of proportion, lent itself particularly well to such an undertaking.

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