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The extraordinary ideas of Thomas Schnur


"I understood that what surrounds us in the urban environment is made by people and that I could be one of the people who help shape this environment."

Thomas Schnur was born in 1983, grew up in Saarland where he completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter before studying product design at the Fachhochschule Aachen, an education which led him to question the origin of things and a desire arose in him to help shape them. A period of cooperation with Mathieu Lehanneur in Paris enabled him to develop his own ways of thinking and ideas in design.


Thomas Schnur Portrait by Alexander Böhle


Having decided to establish his own studio Thomas Schnur selected Cologne, a city which for him is a focal point for designers and is also centrally accessible. And he likes the city's charm, which results from its non-beauty, from the pieced-together of the post-war era.

The openness that the city exudes for him is also reflected in his way of working. He breaks down his product ideas, so to speak, into individual parts, which he deals with in terms of form, material, quality and function.


The Tecta K5 side table, as with all design pieces by Schnur, is extremely well thought out

... and is suitable for residential as well as business areas


Since 2016 Schnur has been teaching at the design academy ecosign in Cologne, always with a focus on the contrast to computer design. His book “Common Things”, published in 2017, which is connected to the exhibition of the same name, is also well-known.

In 2019 he received the German Design Award for a stackable wooden chair.

The Tecta side table K5 designed by Schnur in 2020 is affectionately referred to by the manufacturer as a “sympathetic side table”, inspired by Prouvé's organic steel forms, lively and sculptural.

Lamps can also be created from rubber plungers


New perspective for everyday things, the Rubber Table by Thomas Schnur

Whether rubber table or rubber lamp - Thomas Schnur's designs are extraordinary, as he proved years ago at the IMM Cologne when he created his designs from rubber, more precisely from commercially available toilet plungers, and made them successful as designer pieces.

The Rubber Table, has five legs and an irregularly shaped top made of coloured foam rubber.

The rubber piston serves as a table leg and gives - in the literal sense - a new perspective.

Keen to learn more on Thomas Schnur? smow blog conducted a short interview with him in 2016, which gives an insight into his career:

Interview with Thomas Schnur