Munich, Germany
Ana Relvão and Gerhardt Kellermann from the Munich-based design office RELVAOKELLERMANN designed the “pony” as an alternative workspace that is a combination of seat and table that works in both public and private spaces.
Designed for German furniture manufacturer gumpo, pony can be used intuitively; you can sit sideways next to or directly behind the table so that it can be used either as a shelf or as a small work surface.
Due to its characteristics, is the first gumpo normcore product that doesn’t belong to the architecture; it’s made to be in close relation with the user’s body.
The pony is easily movable on castors and is made almost exclusively of wood, with many operations being performed by hand.
The round plate can be rotated eccentrically, making position and distance easily adjustable.
The outer shell is made of plywood, pressed into shape at gumpo’s production site in Teisbach.
Even the pole is a tube made of wood, which means that all the parts can be coated with the same finish in the in-house paint shop.
As standard, pony is available in six finishes and six fabrics.
The selected fabrics are made entirely from recycled plastic waste.
Due to the high proportion of in-house production, it goes without saying that gumpo is able to cater to individual customer and architect requests.
“Office furniture should be flexible because it allows us to respond to a context that is changing,” state the designers.
“From where we are, we cannot predict what the office of the future will be, but we believe we can design products thinking about openness, meaning, allowing a variety of uses; and as transformable as possible, that is, able to change in relation to evolving contexts.”
“Normcore is about adaptability, it’s not about over-specification nor exclusivity.”
“Thinking about what exactly adaptability means in the everyday office life, we came up with a product which has the flexibility to be with anyone for any reason.”
Project: Pony
Designers: RELVAOKELLERMANN GbR
Manufacturer: gumpo GmbH & Co. KG
