2_0_DiscoverGermany_August 2015_Issue29:Scan Magazine 1

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PHILIPPI Unique designs for timeless living and giving Organic, significant, unpretentious and timeless – that is how PHILIPPI’s designs can be described in short. Designers working for PHILIPPI use metal, leather, glass and – since very recently – also wood. In short: durable and high quality materials bringing joy for a very long time without becoming out-dated. TEXT: JESSICA HOLZHAUSEN | PHOTOS: PHILIPPI

“Whenever I visited Hamburg, PHILIPPI’s original home base, I was always fascinated by the construction site of the Elbphilharmonie,“ says Danish designer Steve McGugan speaking about what inspired the design of the salt and pepper shakers called ELBHARMONIE.“The building’s design is simply beautiful and poetic. That is when the idea hit me to create a tribute to this wonderful example of architecture and PHILIPPI reacted enthusiastically to it.”The shakers themselves, observed individually, remind of a modern sculpture, but“arrange

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them together on their tray and they create a miniature excitingly similar to the Elbphilharmonie with its wavy roof top on the Elbe river’s shore.” ELBHARMONIE is only one example for PHILIPPI’s uniquely designed pieces. It all began in 1992, when Hamburg born Jan Philippi opened his first retail store, always offering unique pieces correlated to his ideas of design, beauty and style: unostentatious, modern and with clear lines. One of his first designs became a bestseller until

today, the PACO letter opener, being sold about 100,000 times worldwide. While PHILIPPI soon had great success, the company always kept to its core values:“We are a small but excellent family led design company, driven by heart,”says Patrick Büchner, responsible for international sales and marketing.“This is also mirrored in our logo: It symbolises Jan Philippi’s signature as owner and our creative head.” Versatile designers create great style Even though different aspiring designers are creating the various new products, PHILIPPI design has a recognition value, easily to be summarised in the timeless design.“We deliberately refrain from following short lived trends and always use high quality materials,”says owner Jan Philippi. “It is also our contribution to using scarce