INTO THE WOODS: HORGENGLARUS

If Marco Wenger weren't the MD of respected Swiss furniture manufacturer Horgenglarus, he'd be a complete shoo-in for the Glarnerland Tourist Board. In business for over 140 years, the company's backyard, so to speak, doesn't just deliver nice views – it's where its team of locally sourced craftspeople and other experts draw their energy from.

'Nature here is really beautiful. It's almost like a mythological landscape, where our employees find inspiration and are able to recharge their batteries on hiking trails, great biking routes and, of course, on and in the lakes.'

Energy, as we learnt in those school physics lessons, can never be destroyed, only converted into other forms of energy. The power of place, of authenticity and tradition, gets transformed at Horgenglarus into a passion for precision furniture-making, evidenced in its finely honed collection of tables and chairs, strong on timeless, elegant silhouettes and richness of, and honesty to, its signature material – wood.

Yet energy of a literal kind has also become a key player in the Horgenglarus story through the brand’s commitment to walking the walk when it comes to sustainability. Yes, we all know by now that the most environmentally friendly way of consuming any kind of product, not just furniture, is to buy once and keep forever. And, indeed, Horgenglarus is no Johnny-Come-Lately in this respect. It’s always been a producer of long-life, trend-eschewing products that are, through their material consideration and quality fabrication, well, keepers.

But now production at the factory powers itself, as it were. Having reached the milestone of carbon-neutrality, the operation features a new and innovative wood-heating system, one that sees off-cuts and other waste from the milling process incinerated to create not only process energy, but also heating for the entire 10,000-m2 facility. ‘All in all, we only have to dispose of 200 kilograms of waste per week to make this work,’ explains Wenger. ‘This is surprisingly little when you bear in mind that our product volume is around 550 chairs and 100 tables a week.’

Installing the system was a challenge in itself. How to implement something state-of-the-art while preserving the fabric of a building that dates back to 1830? But this goes to the very essence of Horgenglarus, which walks the line between tradition and innovation. There’s perhaps no more powerful an example in Switzerland of how to marry age-old handcraft with future-facing production technology and strategy. Keeping your roots, while keeping on moving. Nicht schlecht,* as they say in these parts.

One area in which the manufacturer is in no hurry to move on is the sourcing of its woods. Over 80% of its beech, for instance, comes from the country’s Jura region. A very slow-growing wood (felled at over 100 years old, it’s extremely robust, guaranteeing excellent stability), it has been purchased from the same family for generations. A smaller but steady percentage of its oak and fine woods, meanwhile, come from the Canton of Aargau. ‘Due to the oversupply of wood in Switzerland, we’re much more able to be sustainable, using domestic materials for the majority of our products.’

At the same time, Horgenglarus is pushing forward with a number of longer-term projects to close the circle even further. ‘We have a number of developments going, due to be completed by 2027, which will see the involvement of solar and other contemporary technologies. Horgenglarus stands for enduring values and these will gradually expand in the coming years.’

140 years and the brand is really only getting started.

* ‘Not bad’

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