Anna Norz - Interior designer and CEO Norz Innenarchitektur & Möbeltischlerei
For me, ergonomics and aesthetics aren’t mutually exclusive – good design needs both of them to work together. As an interior designer and owner of a carpentry studio, I see how furniture gets used for years at a time. It doesn’t just have to look good, but support people through their daily lives. An ergonomically designed piece of furniture improves your posture, movement patterns and wellbeing – often without you noticing it. At the same time, aesthetics spark emotion and a sense of identification. A piece of furniture that’s functionally perfect but doesn’t appeal to you visually will be just as irritating as a designer piece that’s completely impractical to use day-to-day. I think it’s incredibly important to utilise the opportunities afforded by custom planning and manufacturing to explore durability and usability and ensure the two aspects are balanced as effectively as possible. For me, the aim of a well-designed piece of furniture is for it to become a long-term companion to its owner – featuring a timeless look, manufactured to a high standard and styled to be pleasing to the body just as much as the eye.
Michael Norz - Physiotherapist and yoga teacher
From a physiotherapy perspective, ergonomics is vitally important. However, aesthetics play just as great a role in people’s wellbeing when it comes to designing interiors and manufacturing furniture. I can sit in the comfiest chair, but if I’m looking out at ugly furniture, I can’t quite relax. For me, saying they’re mutually exclusive is too surface-level. Ergonomics describes the design of working and living environments in line with the physical and psychological needs of their users. And this is exactly what should come front and centre when designing the built environment. At a street food truck, an upturned fruit crate can be the perfect seat. But for an eight-hour presentation, it would be a horrendous choice. In my opinion, good furniture design comes from a place where aesthetics and ergonomics aren’t battling for supremacy, but complement each other to the perfect extent, depending on the context of the piece’s use, and more importantly on the people who live and work with it. For it to become sustainable and timeless, design has to serve the human.