we reflect Swiss culture

traditional and modern
With our almost 150-year history, we represent the values of durability. From our avant-garde design culture to the careful selection of high-quality materials and economical use of resources, Horgenglarus combines traditional craftsmanship with modern aesthetics. Our products can be found everywhere, whether in homes, offices, museums, hospitals, churches, youth hostels, hotels or restaurants. The classic Swiss dining chair (Beizenstuhl) is a Horgenglarus piece, while politicians have been sitting on chairs from the manufactory in the Federal Palace in Bern since 1902.

In 1880, the history of one of the oldest chair and table manufacturers in Switzerland began in Horgen near Zurich. Here, the entrepreneur and company founder Emil Baumann focused on bentwood technology and serial production of furniture of the highest quality and design. These production methods were revolutionary at the time and complemented the traditional carpentry craft.
As the buoyant Belle Époque period brought prosperity and tourism experienced a boom, countless grand hotels were built. Many of them had their chairs made by Baumann. Business was good, and the company needed to grow. Due to the beginning decline of the textile industry, there were plenty of vacant buildings. A new location was soon found in a former textile factory in Glarus. After the opening of the second production facility in 1902, the company operated under the name A.-G. Möbelfabrik Horgen-Glarus. From then on, operations in Horgen specialised in sawn chairs, while in Glarus, the focus was on the production of furniture made of bent wood.
The parliament building of the Federal Palace in Bern was also completed in 1902 and the manufactory received a prestigious contract to furnish the halls of the National Council, the Council of States and the Federal Council Chamber – just 22 years after the company was founded, an example of the company’s early market success.
In 1948, the two production facilities were finally merged in Glarus – the company headquarters and the manufactory are still located there today. Reference to the founding location, Horgen, remains forever anchored in the name of the company, ag möbelfabrik horgenglarus since 1983.

Horgenglarus has long worked with experienced designers. In the 1920s and 1930s, architects Max Ernst Haefeli and Werner Max Moser laid the foundations for a clear, modern design vocabulary – always focused on the essentials without getting lost in fashionable frills. This direction was continued by Max Bill and Hans Bellmann, and gradually more and more famous designers joined in, such as the graphic artist and sculptor Michel Péclard in 1960 with his only furniture design, the stool 11–020, a unique piece that resembles a sculpture with its three curved plywood parts. One icon of Swiss design, however, found its way to Horgenglarus relatively late: reissued in 2014 as ‘ess.tee.tisch’, the complex mechanics of the height-adjustable table designed by Jürg Bally in 1951 were completed by Daniel Hunziker using modern engineering techniques.
Away from such prominent names, Horgenglarus developed pieces, especially in the early years, by unknown designers. Some of these are still in production, most notably the Classic 1–380 chair from 1918 – ‘the’ Swiss dining chair (Beizenstuhl), which today is near enough seen as a cultural asset.
Our tables and chairs can now be found in both private and public areas around the globe. Horgenglarus furniture has been on display in Swiss embassies, in the House of Switzerland at the Olympic Games, and in the Swiss pavilion at the Architecture Biennale 2012 in Venice.

The world has changed over the decades, but the core values of Horgenglarus have remained constant: quality, universality and sustainability. At a time when mass production and globalised supply chains are gaining the upper hand, Horgenglarus remains a company that is tied to craftsmanship, sophisticated design and a Swiss location – a company of the present and a living piece of Swiss history.
Horgenglarus represents the fusion of innovation and tradition and the well-founded art of creating furniture that will last for generations – even in our fast-paced times. Designers including Stephan Hürlemann, Frederic Dedelley, Daniel Hunziker, Moritz Schlatter and Herzog & de Meuron continue along this path with us.

We continue to write the story of Horgenglarus by using the strengths of our heritage to meet the challenges of the future. The short transport distances of all our materials, our resource-saving manufacturing, high level of craftsmanship and large proportion of in-house production are all the cornerstones of our Cycle 2 programme, with which we take the circular economy further. Convinced of the longevity of our furniture, we offer to buy it back, taking refurbishing and reuse into our own hands.
The Glarus manufactory and its iconic products play an important role in the history of Swiss furniture and design. With the generational passport, owners of Horgenglarus chairs and tables can now write and pass on their own history. This is a sign of our appreciation for careful, long-lasting quality and a decisive step towards a sustainable future.