“A chair is made to sit on, a painting is made to look at. Yet beauty is present in both disciplines.” Andreas Christen is a guiding figure at Lehni and a legend in furniture design. It was important to him that furniture could be created as simply as possible – regardless of whether 100 or 10,000 pieces were produced. It’s due to this fact that the pieces of furniture manufactured by Lehni in Switzerland are not unaffordable luxury items.

Born in Bubendorf in 1936, studied design at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts) in Zurich. Developed his first product, the Floor Lamp, while still enrolled at the school. Worked as a painter and product designer starting in 1959. Designed the classic Lehni Aluminium Shelf in 1964. Created "Monoforms", monochromatic relief pictures. Lecturer at the Hochschule für bildende Künste (state academy of higher artistic and scientific education) in Hamburg. Development of the first geometric sculptures “Komplementär-Strukturen”. Designed the Lehni Bed in 1982. Participated in various national and international exhibitions. Died in Zurich in 2006.

Publications

Zwischen Malerei und Objekt (catalogue of the Andreas Christen exhibition at Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich). Texts by Margit Weinberg Staber, Hubertus Adam, Gianfranco Verna and Max Grafin in German and English. Publisher: Dorothea Strauss, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich. ISBN: 978-3-86828-028-9

Andreas Christen – Werke/Works 1959-2005
Texts by Gianfranco Verna in German and English. Publisher: Annemarie Verna Gallery, Zurich.